Free ARC from Net Galley

Terrible, truthful, and tenacious; that is a description of this story.  Fact checked and full of truth it reminds the American in the day of drones and "red lines" just how terrible war is and how innocence is lost and established by the victors.  A great read for all who want to know the truth about the history of WW2.

I would recommend this and any recent book on the murder bombing of Dresden to the general blather about it.  This book comes a bit closer to situating the murder bombing in the triad of collapse of the British idea that murder bombing enough Germans (though perhaps hundreds of thousands of other Europeans were also murdered this way) the war would end, with the Soviet request for the bombing of the city given that it was near the front lines. It is rather weak on the more German-centric issues involved such as how the corruption of Dresden's Nazi party officials gobbled up funds for air raid safety and paralyzed action until the war meant supplies for shelters etc could be obtained. It needs to be a bit more clear rebutting the campaign actually launched by Goebbels that exaggerated the number killed by a factor of 10.  Still the reasoning behind it, and the way the disaster is described, more from the point of view of the pilots alone, is quite chilling.