Viking has bought a narrative history of the Allied bombing of Dresden by bestselling historian Sinclair McKay.
Daniel Crewe bought World English rights from Anna Power at Johnson & Alcock.
Scheduled for publication on the 75th anniversary of the bombing, Dresden will provide a minute-by-minute account of the Allied obliteration of Dresden, a campaign which on a single night killed an estimated 25,000 people, and is today still hotly debated; was it a legitimate military target or a last act of atavistic mass murder in a war already won?
From the history of the city - the ‘Florence of the Elbe’ - to the attack itself through to the eerie period of reconstruction under Soviet control in the following years, Sinclair McKay tells the untold stories of both the civilians and military.
Sinclair Mckay said: “I am completely thrilled to be working with the team at Viking on a subject that resonates powerfully even now. After 75 years, the hideous moral questions thrown up by the 1945 destruction of Dresden remain as perplexing to the people of that beautiful city as they do everywhere else. Time has also brought sharper clarity to individual stories, and the trajectory of family lives before and long after the cataclysm. This isn’t just about the darker impulses of war, though: for out of that fiery horror eventually came moving reconciliation, cultural rebirth and miraculous regeneration.”
Daniel Crewe, Publisher, Viking, said: “We’re all thrilled to welcome Sinclair McKay to Viking. His deep research, careful reflection and powerful storytelling will make for a highly moving account on this important anniversary.”
McKay’s previous bestsellers include The Secret Life of Bletchley Park which has sold 225,000 copies TCM and Bletchley Park Brainteasers which currently stands at 150,000 copies TCM. The Lady in the Cellar (White Lion) and Secret Service Brainteasers (Headline) are published in September 2018.