Title: The Untouchable Subject
Product review: The "Holocaust" engenders such emotional responses as seen in the denunciatory reviews of this book by some others that one fears to enter the arena. My own view: Goldhagen's book is already on the ash-heap of history. When scholarly Jews like Finkelstein and Birn recognize the unscholarly nature of the book, it's done. I'm surprised that they didn't mention the attempt to "buy" Goldhagen a prestigious chair at Harvard (rejected, thank goodness!) on the basis of publicity about the book!Finkelstein expresses surprise at the popularity of Goldstein's racist polemic. Doesn't he notice the prevailing intellectual reign of terror which censors all but the standard version of "the Holocaust"? It exists. I look forward to his next book. I found Birn's part of the book less useful, somewhat pedantic, nitpicking and confused (probably because she is torn between academic honesty about Golhagen's raving prejudices and a desire to support "Holocaust Maxima").
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