A revelatory new history that reexamines the brutal reality of the Holocaust–and reinterprets the events as a living trauma from which modern society has not yet recovered

One of the most acclaimed books of the year: "Outstanding" (Times Literary Supplement); "Remarkable" (Guardian); "Important and challenging" (Jewish Chronicle); "Deeply haunting" (Telegraph)

The Holocaust is much discussed, much memorialized, and much portrayed. But there are major aspects of its history that have been overlooked.

Spanning the entirety of the Holocaust, this sweeping history deepens our understanding. Dan Stone—Director of the Holocaust Research Institute at Royal Holloway, University of London—reveals how the idea of “industrial murder” is incomplete: many were killed where they lived in the most brutal of ways. He outlines the depth of collaboration across Europe, arguing persuasively that we need to stop thinking of the Holocaust as an exclusively German project. He also considers the nature of trauma the Holocaust engendered, and why Jewish suffering has yet to be fully reckoned with. And he makes clear that the kernel to understanding Nazi thinking and action is genocidal ideology, providing a deep analysis of its origins.

Drawing on decades of research, The Holocaust: An Unfinished History upends much of what we think we know about the Holocaust. Stone draws on Nazi documents, but also on diaries, post-war testimonies, and even fiction, urging that, in our age of increasing nationalism and xenophobia, it is vital that we understand the true history of the Holocaust.

“[An] incisive analysis of the genocidal endgame that unfolded from Nazi antisemitism." — Wall Street Journal

“This vital history shatters many myths about the Nazis’ genocide. ... Drawing on the latest scholarship in English and German, Stone’s brisk, energetic book fizzes with ideas. Indeed, even if you think you know the subject, you’ll probably find something here to make you think. ... An excellent book.” — Dominic Sandbrook The Sunday Times

"Rescu[es] the Holocaust from distortion and cliché. . . . Historian Dan Stone seeks to amend—and expand—our understanding of the genocide. . . . A concise and accessible history that extends beyond the death camps.” — New York Times Book Review

"A stunning, original, concise analysis, culling the latest research and the most observant eyewitness accounts of the time. The parallels to fascism today are extremely unsettling. Few scholars could write this masterful synthesis and even fewer would take on a closer examination of its darkest features and unsettling questions about the broader significance of Holocaust education today." — Wendy Lower, author of Hitler's Furies, a National Book Award finalist

"A holocaust history for our times, passionate as well as scholarly, and written with a sharp eye to the growing threat of the radical right in the present. Stone is not afraid to question the verities that have become attached to this most catastrophic epoch of modern history, and he challenges readers to confront its scope and enormity anew." — Jane Caplan, Emeritus Professor of European History, University of Oxford

"Stone's remarkable book offers both a narrative overview and an analysis of the events, challenging many common assumptions and often returning to how this terrible history remains ‘unfinished.’” — Matthew Reisz, The Guardian

"Stone is one of the foremost historians of the Holocaust. . . . Breaks new ground and ties the Holocaust to modern times in ways that are valuable and important." — Dan Carlin, Hardcore History podcast

“A significant new history of the Holocaust from the director of the Holocaust Research Institute at Royal Holloway. . . . Stone delivers a gripping account. . . . A painfully revealing, vital history.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"A book that turns on their head some of the widely-held notions about that terrible era of genocide 80 years ago." — Tony Rennell, Daily Mail (London)

"An important and challenging work." — Colin Shindler, Jewish Chronicle

“A brilliant study, lucid, powerful, moving, and full of original insights. Few general studies of the Holocaust have so successfully integrated the international, indeed global, dimensions of the Nazi genocide and its aftermath.”  — Mark Roseman, Pat M. Glazer Chair in Jewish Studies and Professor in History at Indiana University

“A timely account of the Holocaust and its many consequences. Troubling and thought-provoking for a world in which post-war certainties are now dissolving. It deserves the widest possible readership.”  —  Richard Overy, professor of history at the University of Exeter and New York Times-bestselling author of Blood and Ruins: The Last Imperial War, 1931-1945

“One of the best new publications presenting more complicated narratives of the Holocaust ... Dan Stone's The Holocaust: An Unfinished History, is an outstanding survey that updates the history of the European genocide of the Jews in a thought-provoking and informative way. ... Powerful.” — Jeffrey Veidlinger, Times Literary Supplement

"Drawing on his extensive own research and a vast range of work by historians from across the last eight decades, Stone sets about showing how our mental picture of the Holocaust is dangerously wrong. ... A vital and provocative book." — Chris Kissane, The Irish Times

"An outstanding book: well written, deeply felt, always perceptive and exhibiting considerable knowledge of decades of Holocaust scholarship. It will become the standard work in English on the subject for some time to come." — Bill Niven, History Today

"Outstanding. … Deeply haunting. ... An engaging and accessible read that never hurries or shields the reader from its dark subject matter." — Angus Reilly, The Telegraph (UK)

“Stone [is] one of the foremost Holocaust historians in the world. . . . Instead of presenting Holocaust history as a tidy affair wrapped in a bow with neat moral messages, Stone proposes that we examine its unfinishedness, its unknowability, and its very incompleteness. . . . By confronting these uncomfortable truths, Stone hopes to jolt us out of complacency. We have not, he suggests, sufficiently learned the lessons of the Holocaust.” — New Republic

“[A] sobering and meticulous exploration of aspects of the Shoah that have remained, until now, under-analyzed. And these aspects of the Holocaust are especially salient today. . . . Stone also examines, with great sensitivity, the deep trauma that survivors carried with them their entire lives. . . . Stone’s disturbing findings, tragically, resonate all too clearly.” — Commentary

“For those who believe there is an over saturation of books on the Holocaust and little to add to the history of the Jewish genocide, this volume is a corrective. Stone has written an indispensable account of the Holocaust.”  — Choice