Perhaps we are now just about far enough from the events to begin examining the atrocities of the Second World War without adopting reflex positions of guilt or blame. If so, there is no one better able to guide us than Sinclair McKay. He has the gift of being able to assimilate huge quantities of information, select what the ordinary reader needs, and present it in a way that holds the attention compulsively. His plan here is elegantly simple: give us enough background to feel affection towards Dresden as it stood in 1945, and to understand the many reasons why the Allies placed it among their targets; then present the three waves of destruction through the eyes of individuals on the ground and in the air; then bring us swiftly through the fates of those people, through the life of Dresden as component of communist East Germany, and right up to its sparklingly restored present. McKay executes that plan with the verve of a thriller author, his prose so transparent that we barely notice we are reading at all. Even though no terror or nightmare on either side is understated, we are always aware of the persistent elasticity of human endurance and optimism. It is the moments of staunchness and faith that bring a tingle to our eyes: couples searching for each other among rubble hot enough to burn the shoes off their feet, exhausted airmen passing the hours before they had to return to the ghastly random odds against making it back across Europe for another mission, a British craftsman recreating the pinnacle of the church his father's plane had helped to destroy, modern crowds meeting each year to witness a performance of the Requiem written by a choirmaster in memory of boy choristers crushed and incinerated at the start of Lent. By the end, we feel again the same affection for the city as a personality in itself and a great sense of confidence in the force of human continuity.

Sinclair McKay's prose is of such a quality as almost to make you hear, see, smell and feel the events of that terrible night on February 13 1945. Yet, superbly as he evokes the horror of it all, he also places the bombing within its larger context, describing the experiences of the bomber crews and outlining the reasons behind the raid. The result is a wonder of balance and wisdom, surely the best account yet of one of the defining events of World War 2.

The awesome history of this city is told in a calm and quiet though never dispassionate tone, fascinating and humbling to read. I so admire the craft and skill employed by this writer in producing from the toil of his extensive research a story both potent and poignant. The names of RAF bombers Lancaster, Halifax and Wellington were to me just childhood memories from old war movies and museums, but Mackay summons the terrifying performances of these war machines to great effect as they move centre stage. This testament to the trauma that they wrought and the struggle and determination of all involved to overcome it, is a journey of remembrance and reflection with a world class guide.

This is a totally absorbing book, which examines all aspects of the horrific Dresden bombing, from the standpoint of victims, survivors, aircrew and decision-makers on both sides. It is written with a clarity and sympathy which is at times almost novelistic. As someone who was often in Dresden after the wall came down, and who has seen the iconic Frauenkirche in ruins and later rebuilt, I found the book moving, compelling and highly informative. The author has made extensive use of archives to obtain comments from German survivors on the ground, as well as including the views of airmen who carried out the raids. Together with revulsion at the dreadful impact of the bombing raids, he also shows understanding of how such an apparently incomprehensible and heartless attack could occur amidst the chaotic, bloody turmoil of war.

Fully of controversy this powerful novel explores and examines the carpet bombing of Dresden, an outstanding medieval German city almost totally annihilated by the British and American bomber crews under the auspices of Arthur “bomber” Harris. It examines the events of that cold February night in 1945 from the accounts of not only the survivors on the ground but the bomber crews tasked with this mission of what could only be described as an operation of annihilation. The heart of this superbly researched book is the question...can such death and destruction ever be considered as acceptable behaviour whatever the cause or purpose?