Dresden

Dresden by Sinclair McKay is a narrative history of the German city and the Allied bombing that devastated it in February 1945, told through the experiences of ordinary residents, survivors, airmen and decision-makers. Drawing on extensive research and first-hand accounts, McKay examines the human consequences of the attack and the enduring debate over its military necessity and morality.

• Topics covered: Allied bombing; civilian experience; military necessity and terror bombing; destruction and reconstruction
• Place: Dresden, Germany
• Knowledge level: Some prior knowledge of the Second World War recommended

About the book
In February 1945, Allied bombs weighing more than 1,000 lbs fell on Dresden at intervals of just seven and a half seconds, contributing to a firestorm that killed an estimated 25,000 people.

McKay sets the attack within the history and cultural importance of Dresden before following the city through the raid and its aftermath. Using previously unseen sources alongside accounts from those caught up in the events, he reconstructs both the scale of the destruction and individual experiences within it.

The story continues beyond the bombing to Dresden's reconstruction and regeneration. Among the later connections explored is the rebuilding of the Frauenkirche cathedral, involving a British craftsman with a personal link to the raid, while the twinning of Dresden with Coventry in 1959 connected two cities profoundly affected by wartime bombing.

Comparable books
If you're looking for books similar to Dresden, these books also explore the bombing and destruction of European cities during the Second World War, with approaches ranging from historical reassessment of the Dresden raids to broader accounts of strategic bombing and civilian life in wartime Germany.

• Firestorm, edited by Paul Addison and Jeremy A. Crang: Like Dresden, this book focuses directly on the February 1945 bombing of the city, its destruction and the military and ethical questions surrounding the raids. Rather than McKay's immersive narrative centred on the city and people who experienced the attack, Firestorm brings together multiple historians to reassess the evidence, conduct and consequences of the bombing from different scholarly perspectives.
• The Bombing War by Richard Overy: Overy similarly examines Allied bombing, civilian populations and the difficult questions of military effectiveness and morality raised by aerial warfare. Where Dresden concentrates closely on one city and its destruction, The Bombing War widens the scope to strategic bombing across Europe, placing campaigns against Germany alongside bombing on other fronts.
• Berlin by Sinclair McKay: McKay again uses a German city and the lives of its inhabitants to illuminate the wider history of war, Nazism and twentieth-century Europe. Berlin follows the German capital across a much longer period, from the First World War through the rise and fall of Nazism, division during the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall.