Editing Historical revisionism (section)

==Negationism and denial==
{{main|Historical negationism}}

The historian [[Deborah Lipstadt]] (''[[Denying the Holocaust]]: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory'', 1993), and the historians [[Michael Shermer]] and [[Alex Grobman]] (''[[Denying History]]: Who Says the Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say It?'', 2002), distinguish between historical revisionism and historical negationism, the latter of which is a form of [[denialism]]. Lipstadt said that [[Holocaust denial|Holocaust deniers]], such as [[Harry Elmer Barnes]], disingenuously self-identify as "historical revisionists" to [[Obscurantism|obscure]] their denialism as academic revision of the historical record.

As such, Lipstadt, Shermer, and Grobman said that legitimate historical revisionism entails the refinement of existing knowledge about a historical event, not a denial of the event, itself; that such refinement of history emerges from the examination of new, empirical evidence, and a re-examination, and consequent re-interpretation of the existing documentary evidence. That legitimate historical revisionism acknowledges the existence of a "certain body of irrefutable evidence" and the existence of a "convergence of evidence", which suggest that an event – such as the [[Black Death]], [[Slavery in the United States|American slavery]], and [[the Holocaust]] – did occur; whereas the denialism of history rejects the entire foundation of historical evidence, which is a form of historical negationism.<ref>"Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory" by [[Deborah Lipstadt|Deborah E. Lipstadt]]. {{ISBN|0-452-27274-2}}, 1993, p. 21</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Shermer|first1=Michael |last2= Grobman|first2=Alex|author-link1=Michael Shermer|author-link2=Alex Grobman |title=Denying History: Who Says the Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say It? Updated and Expanded |date=2009 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-94409-1 |language=en |title-link=Denying History: Who Says the Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say It? |page = 34}}</ref><ref>Ronald J. Berger. ''Fathoming the Holocaust: A Social Problems Approach'', Aldine Transaction, 2002, {{ISBN |0-202-30670-4}}, p. 154.</ref>