Representing the Holocaust

In a series of essays—three published here for the first time—LaCapra explores the problems faced by historians, critics, and thinkers who attempt to grasp the Holocaust.

Dominick LaCapra may be the most original intellectual historian writing in America today. LaCapra begins, in this book, to provide a means by which one can critically examine the engagement of the historian/critic with his or her object of study.

John E. Toews:

Representing the Holocaust is a probing analysis of the relations between historiographical, personal, and cultural identity formation in the aftermath of the historical trauma of the Holocaust.

Anson Rabinbach, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art:

Representing the Holocaust is an impressive book that will have a significant impact on the way historians think about the Holocaust and the writing of history. LaCapra's precise and probing study explores the ways that the traumatic event inevitably disrupts the relationship between representation and memory. He writes from the deep conviction that whatever historians might believe, theory is indispensable for them. Indeed, his work best exemplifies the value of theory, setting a standard for historiographical reflection that is not easily matched.

Emily Miller Budick, The Hebrew University. Studies in Contemporary Jewry:

Profoundly thoughtful and humane reflections on a subject of utmost importance, not only to Jews and Jewish culture, but to Western culture itself.