Dresden: Tuesday, 13 February 1945 - Softcover

Taylor, Frederick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0747572860 ISBN 13: 9780747572862

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2004

Synopsis

At 9.51pm on Tuesday, 13 February 1945, Dresden's air-raid sirens sounded as they had done many times in the previous five years, until then most always a false alarm. No searchlights probed the skies above the unprotected target city; the guns had mostly been moved East to counter the Russian advance. By the next morning, 796 RAF Lancasters and 311 USAAF Flying Fortresses had dropped more than 4,500 tons of high explosives and incendiary devices. More than 25,000 inhabitants perished in the terrifying firestorm, and thirteen square miles of the city's historic centre, including incalculable quantities of treasure and works of art, lay in ruins. It was Ash Wednesday 1945. This is the first serious re-appraisal of an event that lives in the popular memory with Guernica and Hiroshima as a by-word for the horror of twentieth-century air warfare. Drawing on archives and primary sources only accessible since the fall of the East German regime, together with British and American records, Frederick Taylor has also talked to Allied aircrew and the city's survivors, whether Jews working as slave labourers, members of the German armed services, refugees, or ordinary citizens of Dresden.

About this title

Product Description:

518 pages. Book appears to have hardly been read and is in Fine condition throughout.

Review:

"[An] authoritative and moving account .. Impeccably documented." -- The Independent (London) "Accomplished." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "A major contribution to the story of Dresden." -- Christian Science Monitor "A riveting narrative account." -- Salon.com "Groundbreaking . [shines] new light on that fateful day and the resulting myths." -- Calgary Sun A provocative re-examination of the bombing of Dresden ... elgantly written and deeply moving. --Peter Duffy, author of The Bielski Brothers Well-researched, objective and compassionate...Frederick Taylor convincingly sets the record straight. --Anthony Looch, Daily Post (Liverpool) A riveting narrative account. --Salon.com Anyone who thinks that during World War Two Dresden manufactured just chinaware must read this penetrating book. --Stanley P. Hirschson, author of General Patton: A Soldier's Life I thought I knew what happened at Dresden on that fiery day in 1945 -- and then I read this book. --James Bradley Genius...an absolutely magnificent work both of scholarship and of narration. --The Literary Review (London) Groundbreaking [shines] new light on that fateful day and the resulting myths. --Calgary Sun [An] authoritative and moving account . Impeccably documented. --The Independent (London) A strong and provocative work of World War II scholarship. --Library Journal Accomplished. --Publishers Weekly (starred review) Compelling ... Mr. Taylor makes a persuasive case that Dresden was not an innocent bystander in the tragedy that was WWII. --Washington Times Fascinating....a fine, revealing work of revisionist history. He has also given us a deeply haunting human drama. --Houston Chronicle A major contribution to the story of Dresden. --Christian Science Monitor Taylor carefully debunks .... the pervasive postwar myth ... What emerges is a picture markedly different from conventional accounts. --New York Times Book Review Compelling ... [Taylor] puts the assault in its proper context to reveal the inherent moral tangle of total war. --Atlantic Monthly Deeply affecting ... a bracing rebuke to the myths and propaganda that have painted over the memory of this tragedy. --People The enigmatic past and the patient muse of history are brilliantly served ... by this blockbuster of a book. --Chicago Sun-Times In narrative power and persuasion, [Taylor] has paralleled in DRESDEN what Antony Beevor achieved in STALINGRAD. --Nicholas Fearn, The Independent on Sunday (London) "I thought I knew what happened at Dresden on that fiery day in 1945 -- and then I read this book."--James Bradley "Taylor carefully debunks .... the 'pervasive postwar myth' ... What emerges is a picture markedly different from conventional accounts."--New York Times Book Review "A major contribution to the story of Dresden."--Christian Science Monitor "Compelling ... Mr. Taylor makes a persuasive case that Dresden was not an innocent bystander in the tragedy that was WWII."--Washington Times "Deeply affecting ... a bracing rebuke to the myths and propaganda that have painted over the memory of this tragedy."--People "[An] authoritative and moving account .... Impeccably documented."--The Independent (London) "The enigmatic past and the patient muse of history are brilliantly served ... by this blockbuster of a book."--Chicago Sun-Times "In narrative power and persuasion, [Taylor] has paralleled in DRESDEN what Antony Beevor achieved in STALINGRAD."--Nicholas Fearn, The Independent on Sunday (London) "Genius...an absolutely magnificent work both of scholarship and of narration."--The Literary Review (London) "Groundbreaking ... [shines] new light on that fateful day and the resulting myths."--Calgary Sun "Accomplished."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Compelling ... [Taylor] puts the assault in its proper context to reveal the inherent moral tangle of total war."--Atlantic Monthly "A strong and provocative work of World War II scholarship."--Library Journal "Well-researched, objective and compassionate...Frederick Taylor convincingly sets the record straight."--Anthony Looch, Daily Post (Liverpool) "A riveting narrative account."--Salon.com "Anyone who thinks that during World War Two Dresden manufactured just chinaware must read this penetrating book."--Stanley P. Hirschson, author of General Patton: A Soldier's Life "A provocative re-examination of the bombing of Dresden ... elgantly written and deeply moving."--Peter Duffy, author of The Bielski Brothers "Fascinating....a fine, revealing work of revisionist history. He has also given us a deeply haunting human drama."--Houston Chronicle

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0747572860
• ISBN 13: 9780747572862
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 544