David Irving as the Controversial Writer - Essay Example

David Irving – The Controversial David Irving is a prominent figure of the 20th century, an English writer born on the 24th of March, 1938, more famous for his controversial stand on Neo-Nazism, Anti-Semitism, and Holocaust denial. Born in the troubled times of World War II he was inclined towards the views of Hitler and developed a negative attitude towards the Jews. His works depict the same and have attracted a lot of criticism from various quarters of society. He has penned over 30 books and most of them have gone on to be best sellers.

Even though his works have attracted criticism, they also have made him equally famous. His main works are The Destruction of Dresden (1963), Hitler's War (1977), and Uprising! (1981), Churchills War (1987), and Goebbels: Mastermind of the Third Reich (1996).Through his writings, he tried to revive the negative image of Nazis and Hitler. He has denied the happening holocaust and in his book Nuremberg: The Last Battle (1996) he claims that nearly 46,000 names that were reported to be dead in the concentration camps died of disease and were not murdered (Evans, 2002).

Claims like these and his consistent denial of the Holocaust, hatred towards Jews, and his support for Hitler and Nazis throughout his writing have led to him facing legal suites. Experts and other historians claim that all his work is no substance and depicts his own ideology. Even though his claims and discoveries in his are sensational and true, the common opinion in the academic world is that it is all lies and made up. As a result of his denial of the holocaust and for consistently portraying false and negative information, he was sentenced to three years in 2006.

I believe that he is one of the great minds and writers of the 20th century but channeled all his work and energy toward negativity. His intellectual wisdom and writing could have made a positive impact on the world if he had developed a positive ideology about events during his ideology.