I liked it. I didn't love it. I wanted to love it. I like her writing and she gave a lot of information in a very small and readable book. I do wish that she had spent more time on the trial and less time on Hannah Arendt's take on the trial. ( )

La cattura del tenente colonnello delle SS Adolf Eichmann da parte di agenti segreti israeliani in Argentina nel maggio del 1960 - e il successivo processo a cui fu sottoposto a Gerusalemme da una corte giudiziaria israeliana - elettrizzarono il mondo. . (fonte: Google Books)

A good representation of the events leading up to the trial of Eichmann and the aftermath. Writing is somewhat flat at times but an illuminating look at a forgotten period of time. ( )

This is a book about the capture of Eichmann and his trial and conviction in Jerusalem. It was a fascinating analysis of the legal issues raised by his capture (and kidnapping from Argentina back to Israel), and issues such as how and by whom Nazi war criminals could be tried--Israel was not in existence when the crimes were committed and the crimes were committed elsewhere, for example, so on what basis could Israel claim jurisdiction? Then there were decisions to be made as to how broad the evidence to be presented should be--should the evidence be limited to only instances of specific actions or deeds of Eichmann, or was testimony from Holocaust victims and camp survivors who may not have had any personal connection with Eichmann relevant?

A significant portion of the book revisits some of the analysis and conclusions reached by Hannah Arendt in her seminal book Eichmann in Jerusalem, and arguably one should have read Arendt's book before reading Lipstadt's (I haven't). Lipstadt posits that Arendt's acceptance of Eichmann's claim that he was a small cog in a very big wheel ("the banality of evil"), "mistakenly ignores the central role that historical anti-Semitism played in the role of the Holocaust." Lipstadt delineates the evidence that she believes clearly established that Eichmann was "a man who considered the Nazi leaders to be his 'idols' and who was fully committed to their goals." In addition, Arendt argued that the Nazi actions were crimes against humanity, with the Jews being victims as members of humanity, and under this theory, Arendt believed that the testimony of the survivors was irrelevant. Lipstadt's thesis is that the crimes of the Holocaust were directed against the Jews as Jews per se, and resulted from historical anti-Semitism. In Lipstadt's view, the testimony of the survivors was essential, and in fact may be the most important element of the trial.

Lipstadt's purpose in writing the book was to examine the legacy of the Eichmann trial, and a large part of that legacy was created by Arendt's work and the controversy it created. (There were some who argued that Arendt's book "exonerated" Eichmann). I think Lipstadt's book did a good job of analyzing the issues involved in the trial itself, fairly explained the issues raised by Arendt's book, and logically defended her own conclusions regarding all of these matters. I'm not sure whether I'll read Arendt's book at these late date (50 years after the fact), but I'm glad I read Lipstadt's. ( )

This book was divided in three parts. The opening where the author compares herself and her slander trial brought by a holocaust denier to the story she is about to relate and how Eichmann's trial laid precedent and groundwork that influenced her trial. The central and longest part focused on the actual Eichmann trial. And the last part was a vicious critique of Hannah Arendt's journalistic record and subsequent book about the trial. The book would have been much better without the first and final sections overall.

The central story was well written and presents the efforts of the prosecution and the defendant (who testified), defense, and ultimately the ruling of the three judge panel on guilt and sentence. The analysis of the social impact of this trial is excellent as the author explains how it created an international dialog about the holocaust experience and birthed a generation of activists who pushed back against holocaust denial and the temptation to forget holocaust horrors. ( )