This book recounts the libel suit against historian Deborah Lipstadt by David Irving, which resulted in a formal denunciation of a Holocaust denier.

A personal and scholarly odyssey -- The defense strategy -- Auschwitz : a forensic tour -- Our objective changes -- "All rise!" -- Irving in the box : not a denier but a victim -- The chain of documents -- The Holocaust : random killings or systematic genocide? -- Queues and gas chamber controversies -- An American professor -- Exonerating Hitler, excoriating the Allies -- Fighting words -- Revolting calculations -- Lying about Hitler -- The diary of Anne Frank : a novel? -- Our German contingent -- Cavorting with thugs or guilt by association? -- One-person gas chambers and white people's polkas -- The final scene -- Judgment day : phone chains, psalms, and sleepless survivors -- Enormous thanks -- The "jester's costume.".