Dresde

The story of one of history's most famous bombings, told through the voices of those who suffered it, on its 75th anniversary.

In the last days of World War II, the Allies destroyed the so-called "Florence on the Elbe": in a single night, 796 bombers flew over Dresden, twenty-five thousand people died, many more would be deeply traumatized, and a magnificent city was left in ruins. Sinclair McKay offers a minute-by-minute account of that fateful night from the perspective of its inhabitants. He shows us everything from what was playing in the cinemas to the porcelain on the shelves, and tells us many never-before-told personal stories of inhabitants, refugees, workers, children, pilots, and prisoners. McKay brings the city to life before and after the tragedy, while exploring its rich cultural context.

Impeccably researched and deeply moving, Dresden draws on new sources and conveys the texture of life in a decimated population. The bombing is often invoked as a paradigm of the limitless cruelties of war, and the distance afforded by the passage of time allows us today to approach this topic with a much clearer and unbiased perspective, focusing on the lives that ordinary people lost or tried to rebuild.

Never before has the scope of this air attack on the civilian population been portrayed in such an emotional, polyphonic, and profoundly human way as in this masterpiece of narrative history.

Critics have said...

«A gripping account that tries to capture what happened from every possible point of view. [...] Relying on diaries, memoirs, and testimonies of survivors, McKay seems to wander street by street and even house by house to detail with admirable precision a Dantesque scenario. [...] The result is certainly brilliant.»

Rafael Núñez Florencio, El Cultural de El Mundo

«The shadow line is in the point of view: that of those who experienced the catastrophe on land and those who did so in the air, that abyss that separates those who made decisions from those who had no choice.»

Karina Sainz Borgo, Vozpópuli

«Despite narrating one of the most tragic days of the 20th century, its reading is full of moments of understanding and compassion for its protagonists, whether German or English, aggressors or victims.»

Luis Alemany, El Mundo

«Through personal stories with names and surnames, McKay describes the indolence with which the inhabitants of Dresden lived the previous hours, devoted to the carnival celebration and unaware of the tragedy that destiny had in store for them. [...] He manages to narrate his book as if it were another testimony of the witches' Sabbath.»

Juan Fernández, El Periódico

«McKey highlights the flashes of humanity that, amidst so much death, shone brightly during the bombing.»

Fernando García, La Vanguardia

«Normative history is Manichaean. It is divided into Hollywood heroes and their perfidious nemeses. That is why [this book] is so important. Because, in this new essay, British historian Sinclair McKay links an infinity of testimonies from the other victims.»

Manuel. P. Villatoro, La Voz Digital