- Summary
- Narrative nonfiction account of the history of the Dresden Bombing, one of the most devastating attacks of World War II. Looks at the life of the city in the days before the attack, tracks each moment of the bombing, and considers the long period of reconstruction and recovery. reconstruction of this unthinkable terror from the points of view of the ordinary civilians: Margot Hille, an apprentice brewery worker; Gisela Reichelt, a ten-year-old schoolgirl; boys conscripted into the Hitler Youth; choristers of the Kreuzkirche choir; artists, shop assistants, and classical musicians, as well as the Nazi officials stationed there.
"A gripping work of narrative nonfiction recounting the history of the Dresden Bombing, one of the most devastating attacks of World War II. On February 13th, 1945 at 10:03 PM, British bombers began one of the most devastating attacks of WWII: the bombing of Dresden. The first contingent killed people and destroyed buildings, roads, and other structures. The second rained down fire, turning the streets into a blast furnace, the shelters into ovens, and whipping up a molten hurricane in which the citizens of Dresden were burned, baked, or suffocated to death. Early the next day, American bombers finished off what was left. Sinclair McKay's The Fire and the Darkness is a pulse-pounding work of history that looks at the life of the city in the days before the attack, tracks each moment of the bombing, and considers the long period of reconstruction and recovery. The Fire and the Darkness is powered by McKay's reconstruction of this unthinkable terror from the points of view of the ordinary civilians: Margot Hille, an apprentice brewery worker; Gisela Reichelt, a ten-year-old schoolgirl; boys conscripted into the Hitler Youth; choristers of the Kreuzkirche choir; artists, shop assistants, and classical musicians, as well as the Nazi officials stationed there. What happened that night in Dresden was calculated annihilation in a war that was almost over. Sinclair McKay's brilliant work takes a complex, human, view of this terrible night and its aftermath in a gripping book that will be remembered long after the last page is turned."-- Provided by publisher.
- Variant Title
- Bombing of Dresden, 1945
- Format
- Book
- Author/Creator
- McKay, Sinclair, author.
- Published
- New York, NY : St. Martin's Press, 2020
©2020
- Locale
- Dresden (Germany)
Germany
Dresden
- Edition
- First U.S. edition
- Contents
-
Part one: Approaching fury. Days before
In the forests of the Gauleiter
Dethroning of reason
Art and degeneracy
Glass man and the physicists
'A sort of little London'
Science of doomsday
Correct atmospheric conditions
Hosing out
Devil will get no rest
Part two: Schreckensnacht. Day of darkness
Five minutes before the sirens
Into the abyss
Shadows and light
10.03 p.m.
Burning eyes
Midnight
Second wave
From among the dead
Third wave
Part three: Aftershock. Dead men and dreamers
Radiant tombs
Meanings of terror
Music of the dead
Recoil
'The Stalinist style'
Beauty and remembrance.
- Notes
-
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Part one: Approaching fury. Days before -- In the forests of the Gauleiter -- Dethroning of reason -- Art and degeneracy -- Glass man and the physicists -- 'A sort of little London' -- Science of doomsday -- Correct atmospheric conditions -- Hosing out -- Devil will get no rest -- Part two: Schreckensnacht. Day of darkness -- Five minutes before the sirens -- Into the abyss -- Shadows and light -- 10.03 p.m. -- Burning eyes -- Midnight -- Second wave -- From among the dead -- Third wave -- Part three: Aftershock. Dead men and dreamers -- Radiant tombs -- Meanings of terror -- Music of the dead -- Recoil -- 'The Stalinist style' -- Beauty and remembrance.
