Before reading Irving, you would be wise to read his critics --- or read the opinion of the conservative British judge who ruled against Irving in his libel action against Penguin Books. He was found by the court to be a Nazi apologist who repeatedly misrepresented source documents to validate his revisionist history of Hitler and the Third Reich. (In speeches to hate groups in Germany and the US, he used to joke that "more people died in the back seat of Edward Kennedy's car at Chappaquidick than died in the gas chambers at Auschwitz.") In an early edition of the Dresden book, he claimed that 202,040 people were killed in the Allied firebombing. The number, it turns out, was derived by simply adding a zero to the official German count of 20,204. Before you buy this book, consider whether you want to pay royalties to such a man.

This book by sometimes controversial, but always worthwhile, English historian David Irving is a credible attempt on his part to balance a bit of the history of World War II. My research of this author has proven him to be as generally reliable as any other noted historian. His only sin is to try to present a more balanced view of both sides of a tragic war. Although I do not agree with everything that he writes, it certainly does not make him anti-semitic. That epithet should be saved for the true hatemongers who deserve it. To throw the term about loosely only diminishes its gravity.

Hugely dificult to research, this in depth account of the planned systematic destruction of a large city of no military consequence raises horendous questions which will simmer for decades.Irving provides a slightly clouded mirror, but not so clouded as to startle us as to what we see.

The trial transcripts are available on line (for free!!!!!). Imagine that, you can get an unbiased take on the evidence! Van Pelt gives very compelling testimony (unlike some of the other highly paid "witnesses" for the defense) but why pay him again for it?

A fascinating look at a trial which brought to light the nefarious and underhanded way in which Holocaust deniers and revisionists twist the facts of history. A must-read for history buffs, truth seekers, and legal eagles.