Having already covered controversy in movies, it is time to move on to controversy in literature. I have intentionally left off books that have been dealt with in other lists. Links are included for the purchase of any of the books on this list courtesy of Amazon.com. This list also includes a competition. The details can be read at the bottom of the list.
10 The Hoax of the 20th Century
Arthur R. Butz
“The Hoax of the 20th Century: The Case Against the Presumed Extermination of European Jewry” is considered to be the book that started the holocaust denial movement. It claims that the Germans did not try to exterminate the Jews during the Second World War. Many attempts have been made to have the book banned from libraries and other attempts have been made to make it illegal to import in to Canada. The book was first published in 1975 and it has enjoyed many re-publications since that date. Dr Butz is an associate professor of electrical engineering at Northwestern University and he recently caused controversy by publicly approving Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s statements denying the holocaust.
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9 The Population Bomb
Paul R. Ehrlich
This 1968 book predicted disaster for man due to population explosion. The book has been included as number 11 in Human Events most harmful books of the 19th and 20th century, as well as making the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s “50 Worst Books of the Twentieth Century”. The most shocking prediction made in the book was that the world would suffer the death of millions through starvation in the 1970s and 1980s. The author claimed that “radical action” was needed to prevent this from taking place. The radical action? Ehrlich recommended starving entire nations if they refused to implement policies to reduce or suspend population growth.
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8 The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln
In The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, the authors claim that Jesus had offspring with Mary Magdalene, and that a secret society (the Priory of Sion) was formed that ultimately created the Knights Templar and tried to protect the offspring of Jesus. They also included (as fact) sections of the Protocol of the Elders of Zion (an anti-semitic tract written in Russia). Unfortunately for them, it turned out that the entire book was based on a hoax by a Frenchman in 1961. This book was widely believed to be factual (by the authors and readers) until the hoax was uncovered. Dan Brown copied the basic ideas from this book for his “The Da Vinci Code” which he still claims to be based on fact. Historians and professionals in the field consider The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail to be an example of “counterknowledge” (misinformation packaged to look like fact).
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7 Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth?
Jonathan Wells
This book is often cited by creationists as proof against evolution - and that was the intent of the author (a prominent promoter of intelligent design). Wells attempts to overthrow the idea of evolution by critiquing the manner in which it is taught. The author contends that the 10 case studies used to illustrate and teach evolution are flawed. The science behind this topic is very fascinating and it is worth reading the Wikipedia article on the arguments presented for and against. You can read the article here.
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6 The Skeptical Environmentalist
Bjørn Lomborg
Lomborg, in this highly controversial book, states that various environmental issues (such as global warming, overpopulation, species loss, and water shortages) are not supported by analysis of the appropriate data. Lomborg claims that the excess attention being given to this “insignificant” events is used politically to distract people from real and more important issues facing the world today. When word got out that this book was to be published by Cambridge University Press, efforts were launched by supporters of the theories he disputes to prevent it from being published - or subsequently banned if it was.
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5 Hitler’s Willing Executioners
Daniel Goldhagen
This book posits that ordinary Germans knew about, and supported, Hitler’s plans for genocide. One critic says of the book: “[It is] totally wrong about everything. Totally wrong. Exceptionally wrong.” Goldhagen claimed that a German “anti-semitism” had grown up over the centuries - starting from a religious basis and eventually becoming secularized - to a point that the Germans eventually became “eliminationist”.
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4 Silent Spring
Rachel Carson
This book is credited with helping launch the environmental movement. Unfortunately it is also credited with the widespread ban of DDT (which was commonly used as a defense against malaria carrying mosquitos) which some believe is the reason that malaria has become rampant - leading to the deaths of millions. One critic is quoted as saying: “If man were to follow the teachings of Miss Carson, we would return to the Dark Ages, and the insects and diseases and vermin would once again inherit the earth.”
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3 The Bell Curve
Richard J. Herrnstein & Charles Murray
In this book, the authors contend that intelligence is a better predictor of crime, income, unwed pregnancy, and job performance than parent’s socio-economic background. It also made some claims regarding racial difference in intelligence. Consequently, critics said that the book promotes “scientific racism”. Many people rallied in support of the book, while many others rallied against it. The authors also recommended policy for the US government which completely ended all welfare assistance to poor unwed mothers as it “encourages” low IQ women rather than high IQ women to have children [more information].
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2 Hitler’s Pope
John Cornwell
Hitler’s Pope is a book written by John Cornwell (an English journalist and an ex-Catholic Seminarian) which claims that Pope Pius XII contributed to the demise of the Jews in the second world war by bowing down to Hitler. The book caused a huge controversy due to the fact that many Jews had spoken out in defense of Pius XII (during and after the war) and there was little evidence to corroborate the views in the book. Cornwell has since stated that he no longer believes the negative conclusions he came to in his book. Interestingly, Cornwell has also publicly criticized Richard Dawkins and his book The God Delusion, calling it “extremist and dogmatic”.
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1 The Holy Bible
Jewish and Christian religious figures
It would be wrong not to include the Holy Bible on this list. It is probably the most debated book in existence and has been for a very long time. From controversy over what books to include (and what books to remove in the case of Martin Luther in the 16th century), to controversy over what it actually means, the Bible has been a source of constant difficulty for many people. Despite this, it is still one of the most popular sources of moral direction in the world today and it can not be denied that this book gave more to the growth of the West than any other.
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At 1pm GMT tomorrow, I will select one commenter from this list to win a prize of the great recently published book Top 10 For Men - a book of over 250 lists of interest to men (though women will no doubt love it also). Topics include What’s the most common murder weapon? What is the hottest variety of chilli? Who is the most searched for woman on the internet? To read an official excerpt of the book, go here.
The prize winner will be one randomly selected commenter - as usual you can enter more than one comment to improve your chances, but your comments must add value to this list - that means no comments designed just to have a better chance at winning. The winner must be a registered user of the List Universe. You can click here to register.
Finally, many thanks to Octopus Books for donating the prize for this competition.
译文:
最具争议的十部非小说类图书
继谈过电影中存在的争议之后， 这次我们来讨论一下文学中存在的争议。 我有意没有选择那些在其他的榜单中提及、讨论过的书籍。已经附上了在亚马逊网站购买本清单所列书籍的相关链接。 关于张榜单也同样存在着一场竞赛。接下来将为你呈现关于这些书的更多细节。
10
20世纪的骗局
作者：R.布茨
《20世纪的骗局：关于欧洲犹太人假定性的种族灭绝一案》被认为是拉开了否认大屠杀序幕的一本书。此书称在二战期间德国人并没有试图屠杀灭绝犹太人。这本书被大力禁止出现在图书馆中并且将这本书引入加拿大出版发行也被认为是违法行为。这本书于1975年首次出版并且此后多次再版。布茨博士是美国西北电气工程大学的一位副教授，尽来他因为公开表示赞成伊朗总统内贾德否认大屠杀的声明而备受争议。
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9
人口爆炸
这本1968年出版的书预言一场由人口爆炸导致的大灾难。这本书在19、20世纪关于人类活动最为有害的图书排行榜中位列第11位，同时它还被美国院际研究协会评为“20世纪最糟糕的50本图书”之一。这本书中作出的最为骇人听闻的一个预言是在20世纪七八十年代世界将遭受一场导致数百万人死亡的饥荒。作者称为了防止这种情况发生“激进的行动”是必需的。何谓“激进的行动”？埃利希认为应该将那些拒绝执行减少或阻止人口增长的国家的所有人饿死。
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8
圣血与圣杯
在圣血与圣杯一书中，作者称耶稣和玛利亚·拉末大育有后代，并且有一个秘密社团（锡安修道院）存在，而且最终创建了圣殿骑士团来保护耶稣的后代。这本书中（事实上）还包含了《锡安长老会纪要》（一本俄国反犹太人的小册子）的部分章节。然而不幸的是，这整本书原来是以1961年一个法国人的骗局为根据的。直到骗局被揭露之前，这本书的内容被（不论是其作者还是读者）广泛的相信是真实的。丹·布朗抄袭了这本书的基本思想写成了《达·芬奇密码》一书，至今他依旧声称其是以事实为根据的。历史学家和这一领域的专业人员认为《圣血与圣杯》是“反知识”（包装如事实般的误传）的一个例子。
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7
进化论的圣像——科学还是神话？
乔纳森·威尔斯
这本书经常被推崇创造宇宙说的学者引用作为发对进化论的证据——而这也是这本书的作者（一位卓越的智能设计的推动者）的本意。威尔斯试图通过批评进化论的思考方式来推翻这一思想。作者认为通常被用来阐释、教授进化论的10个案例研究是有瑕疵有缺陷的。隐藏在这一主题后的科学道理是十分精彩的，并且维基百科上支持和反对这一论题的文章是很值得一读的。你可以点击此处阅读文章。
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6
持怀疑论的环境保护主义者
隆伯格在这本备受争议的书中写道很多各种各样的环境问题（例如全球变暖、人口过剩、物种灭亡以及水资源短缺）并没有适当的数据分析最为支撑。隆伯格称如今人们把过多的注意力投注到了“无关紧要”的事情上，而其本应放在人们在面对这个世界的时候面临的真实且更为重要的问题上，然而这些注意力却通过政治手段被转移了。当这本书将要由剑桥大学出版社出版的消息传出后，作者所怀疑的理论的支持者做了很大努力来阻止这本书出版，假如它出版了也随后禁止它的发行。
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5
希特勒的志愿行刑者
丹尼尔·根
这本书指出普通的德国民众都知道并且支持希特勒的种族屠杀计划。一位评论家在此书中称：“所有的一切都是错误的，完全错误，极其错误。”作者称德国人的“反犹太主义”在过去的几个世纪中滋生并壮大起来——起源于宗教问题最终为德国人普遍接受，直至德国人最终变为“排除主义者”（持“日耳曼民族最优论”，排挤消灭其他种族。）
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4
寂静的春天
蕾切尔·卡森
这是被认为发起了环保运动的一本书。然而不幸的是它同时也被认为与分布广泛的禁用DDT（二氯二苯三氯乙，一般被用来防止蚊子携带的疟疾的传播）禁令有关，有人认为这是疟疾肆虐导致数百万人死亡的原因。书中引用了一位评论家的话：“如果人们都遵从卡森小姐的教诲，我们将会回到黑暗时代，并且昆虫、疾病和寄生虫将会再次接管这个世界。”
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3
铃形曲线
在这本书中，作者主张智力而非父母的社会经济背景是犯罪、收入、未婚先孕以及工作表现的预报器。书中还做出了一些有关智力方面的根本差异的论断。因而，评论家指出这本书助长了“科学上的种族歧视”。很多人集结起来支持这本书，与此同时也有很多联合起来发对这本书。作者还向美国政府建议实施政策来完全断绝对贫穷的未婚妈妈的社会福利资助，因为这种资助促使低智商而非高智商的女性生育后代。
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2
希特勒的教皇
约翰·康威尔
《希特勒的教皇》一书是由一位曾是天主教神学院学生的名叫约翰·康威尔的英国记者写的。这本书中写道教宗庇护十二世在二战期间屈服于希特勒，促进了犹太人的灭亡。这本书引起了轩然大波，因为在二战期间以及战后很多犹太人都站出来为庇护十二世辩护，并且也没有什么证据证明书中的观点是正确的。此后康威尔发表声明说他也不再相信他书中所下的消极的结论。有趣的是，康威尔曾公开批评
理查德·道金斯和他的《上帝的错觉》，称其是“极端主义、独断的教条主义”。
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1
圣经
犹太教和基督教的宗教人士
如果《圣经》没有在这张榜单上那就不对劲儿了。这本书大概是现行最具争议的书籍，并且它已经存在了很长时间了。从16世纪马丁·路德时代什么书应该保留，什么书应该去除的争议到到底这本书意谓着什么的争议，《圣经》一直是很多人永恒的难题的渊源。除此之外，它还是当今世界最普遍的道德取向的源头之一。不可否认，这本书比任何一本书籍对西方发展都起着更为重要的作用。
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奖励
有关此榜单的竞赛
明天格林尼治标准时间下午一点，我将会选出一位对此榜单评论的评论者，然后奖励给他最近新出版的一本非常不错的书——《男人心中的前十名》，这本书列出了男人感兴趣的250个排行榜（当然，女人也毫无疑问地会爱上它）。书中谈论了像最普遍的杀人武器是什么,最辣的辣椒是什么品种，谁是女性在网上搜索最多的人等等一些话题。想要阅读官方摘要，点击此处
得奖人是随机抽取的——你可以照常多登陆几次评论来增加你被抽中的机会，但是你的评论必须要给这个书单增添价值，也就是说不可以只为了增加赢的机会而评论。奖品得主必须是榜单空间的注册用户。你可以点击此处进行注册。
最后，特别鸣谢章鱼图书赞助此次竞赛的奖品。