The Holocaust: An Unfinished History(Pelican Books)

A nuanced and perceptive new history by the Director of the Holocaust Research Institute. The defining event of twentieth-century Europe - the extermination of millions of Jews - has been commemorated, institutionalised and embedded in our collective consciousness. But in this nuanced and perceptive new history, Dan Stone, Professor of Modern History and Director of the Holocaust Research Institute, contends that the true dimension of the horror wrought by the Nazis is inadvertently brushed aside in our current culture of commemoration. This is due in part to practical or conceptual challenges, such as the continent-wide scale of the crime and the multiplicity of sources in many languages; and in part to an unwillingness to confront the reality that the Holocaust could not have happened without the assistance of numerous non-Nazi states and agents. Structured around four themes - trauma, collaboration, genocidal fantasy and post-war consequences - The Holocaust demonstrates the genocidal logic of much European thinking in the wake of WWI, explores how the Holocaust's effects unfolded even after the liberation of the camps in 1945, and stresses the ways in which Europeans continue, even now, to draw on a reservoir of fascist vocabulary and imagery in times of crisis. It is a deeply researched and indispensable examination of a trauma that still reverberates today.

About the Author :
Dan Stone is Professor of Modern History and Director of the Holocaust Research Institute at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is the author or editor of numerous articles and books, including- Histories of the Holocaust; The Liberation of the Camps- The End of the Holocaust and its Aftermath; Concentration Camps- A Very Short Introduction; Fascism, Nazism and the Holocaust- Challenging Histories; and Fate Unknown- Tracing the Missing after the Holocaust and World War II.

Review :
This vital history shatters many myths about the Nazi's genocide . . . Drawing on the latest scholarship in English and German, Stone's brisk, energetic book fizzes with ideas. Indeed, even if you think you know the subject, you'll probably find something here to make you think . . . surprising . . . provocative . . . an excellent book Relays many carefully chosen and deeply haunting stories... an engaging and accessible read that never hurries or shields the reader from its dark subject matter... outstanding A timely corrective to a shifting narrative ... erudite ... this remarkable book offers both a narrative overview and an analysis of the events, challenging many common assumptions and often returning to how this terrible history remains "unfinished"... a brisk, compelling and scholarly account of the Nazi genocide and its aftermath. But never for one moment does it let us believe that the events are now safely in the past Deep insights into horror... drawing on his extensive own research and a vast range of work by historians from across the last eight decades, Stone sets about showing how our mental picture of the Holocaust is dangerously wrong.... his own passion for his subject and its importance is compelling, as is his willingness to confront both moral and historical questions... the breadth of Stone's work across borders and languages shines through... a vital and provocative book A holocaust history for our times, passionate as well as scholarly, and written with a sharp eye to the growing threat of the radical right in the present. Stone is not afraid to question the verities that have become attached to this most catastrophic epoch of modern history, and he challenges readers to confront its scope and enormity anew A brilliant study, lucid, powerful, moving, and full of original insights. Few general studies of the Holocaust have so successfully integrated the international, indeed global, dimensions of the Nazi genocide and its aftermath A candid, historically rooted, and timely account of the Holocaust and its many consequences . . . troubling and thought-provoking for a world in which post-war certainties are now dissolving. It deserves the widest possible readership A stunning, original, concise analysis, culling the latest research and the most observant eyewitness accounts of the time. The parallels to fascism today are extremely unsettling. Stone analyzes the latest research on the thousands of persecution sites that turned Europe into a continent of camps; he explains the mystical power of Nazi racial antisemitism and he grants the aftermath history of displacement, trauma and reckonings the fuller treatment it merits. Few scholars could write this masterful synthesis and even fewer would take on a closer examination of its darkest features and unsettling questions about the broader significance of Holocaust education today Illuminating ... Dan Stone demonstrates the important role played by locals ... He writes with authority and an eye for the human story not always evident in Holocaust historiography One of the best new publications presenting more complicated narratives of the Holocaust ... Dan Stone's The Holocaust: An Unfinished History, is an outstanding survey that updates the history of the European genocide of the Jews in a thought-provoking and informative way ... powerful Significant… A painfully revealing, vital history Thought-provoking, a present-day reckoning ... an important and challenging work The Holocaust is very much open to further research and Dan Stone is well placed to provide an informed overview, having spent decades immersed in this subject. He is extremely well read, and ... is no dry academic: he is determined to ensure that the brutality of the violence and the suffering of the victims are conveyed vividly, with emotive quotations ... a powerful survey Suprising… timely… a concise and accessible history that extends beyond the death camps A book that turns on their head some of the widely-held notions about that terrible era of genocide 80 years ago Excellent and engrossing ... this is a history with empathy, insight and depth at its core, all backed up by brave analysis ... This is a vital and provocative book, impressively covering a seismic event in little more than 300 pages, making it accessible to the general reader as well as those in academia An incisive analysis of the genocidal endgame that unfolded from Nazi antisemitism in the early 20th century A deeply felt and awesomely learned book Stone's new book is as up-to-date an overview as you are likely to find ... he presents a strong argument that the Holocaust should be understood as the result of ideological beliefs [and] ... illuminates with great sympathy and insight a history of continuing suffering and prejudice ... This is an outstanding book: well written, deeply felt, always perceptive and exhibiting considerable knowledge of decades of Holocaust scholarship. It will become the standard work in English on the subject for some time to come Stone's deeply humane account draws on an array of testimonies from some of the most observant and perceptive victims, and he uses these to devastating effect ... a well-written history of the Holocaust and its aftermath, with accomplished use of eyewitness accounts ... Dan Stone remains an important and eloquent voice in the field of Holocaust studies A timely study of the holocaust that indicates the dangers of selectively misremembering it ... vital ... offers a detailed examination of the many roots of Nazism Instead of presenting Holocaust history as a tidy affair wrapped in a bow with neat moral messages, Stone proposes that we examine its unfinishedness, its unknowability, and its very incompleteness… confronts uncomfortable truths