Dresden: The Fire and the Darkness

Some 25,000 people perished in the firestorm that raged through the city. Bombs weighing over 1,000 lbs fell every seven and a half seconds and an estimated 25,000 people were killed. Along the way we encounter, among many others across the city, an elderly air-raid warden and his wife vainly striving to keep order amid devouring flames, a doctor who carried on operating while his home was in ruins, novelist Kurt Vonnegut who never thought that his own side might want to unleash the roaring fire, and fifteen-year-old Winfried Bielss, who, having spent the evening ushering refugees, wanted to get home to his stamp collection. Impeccably researched and deeply moving, McKay uses never-before-seen sources to relate the untold stories of civilians and vividly conveys the texture of contemporary life.

Publisher: Viking
Date Published: 2020
Book Condition: Near fine hardcover with minimal edge wear to dust jacket. Otherwise, a fine and unmarked copy internally.