The Fire The Bombing of Germany, 1940-1945 Jorg Friedrich. Translated by Allison Brown Columbia University Press

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For five years during the Second World War, the Allies launched a trial and error bombing campaign against Germany's historical city landscape. Peaking in the war's final three months, it was the first air attack of its kind. Civilian dwellings were struck by-in today's terms-"weapons of mass destruction," with a total of 600,000 casualties, including 70,000 children.



In The Fire, historian Jörg Friedrich explores this crucial chapter in military and world history. Combining meticulous research with striking illustrations, Friedrich presents a vivid account of the saturation bombing, rendering in acute detail the annihilation of cities such as Dresden, the jewel of Germany's rich art and architectural heritage. He incorporates the personal stories and firsthand testimony of German civilians into his narrative, creating a macabre portrait of unimaginable suffering, horror, and grief, and he draws on official military documents to unravel the reasoning behind the strikes.



Evolving military technologies made the extermination of whole cities possible, but owing, perhaps, to the Allied victory and what W. G. Sebald noted as "a pre-conscious self-censorship, a way of obscuring a world that could no longer be presented in comprehensible terms," the wisdom of this strategy has never been questioned. The Fire is a rare account of the air raids as they were experienced by the civilians who were their targets.

Exhaustive and harrowing Friedrich's aim seems to be not only to wrest the history of German suffering from the clutch of the far right but to rescue the glories of German history from the twelve years of Hitler's thousand-year Reich. Ian Buruma, New York Review of Books The Fire represents the continuation of Friedrich's generation's indictment of National Socialismexcept now the finger is pointed at the Allies, and sympathy is extended to the civilian Germans who were their victims. The Nation What W. G. Sebald lamented about the lack of open discourse on the air war appears to have been blown apart with the publication of The Fire. Noah Isenberg, Bookforum Jörg Friedrich's achievement in The Fire has been to tell this tale of death and destruction with a rare plasticity and vividness. German Historical Institute London Bulletin [Jörg Friedrich] describes in stark, unrelenting and very literary detail what happened in city after city as the Allies dropped 80 million incendiary bombs on Germany.... There is an edginess to Friedrich's writing and commentary, an emotional power. New York Times Jörg Friedrich tells the story from the viewpoint of the bombed with... great skill and objectivity. Paul Johnson, The American Spectator Thorough and methodical... Friedrich's book underscores that precision bombing is anything but a scientific enterprise. Stanley Hoffman, Foreign Affairs Mr. Friedrich deserves credit for both his diligence and his descriptive powers. Economist An indictment both of Hitler's appropriation of German history and of the Allies' destruction of a nation's culture... Thoughtful and detailed. Library Journal This is a book that demands to be read, no matter how uncomfortable the experience. David Cesarani, The Independent [A] haunting book forceful, incendiary. Atlantic Monthly A well-documented piece of historical writing... [that] is also a poignant, lyrical and terrible account of human suffering. Adam R. Seipp, Houston Chronicle A vivid and powerful critique of war... [The Fire is] fascinating, ground-breaking, and thought-provoking. Roger Moorhouse, BBC History Magazine Recommended. Choice A contribution to the German literature of remembrance; it is also a passionate denunciation of the excesses of the air war. Harold Dorn, Technology and Culture Riveting. TIME Europe

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