David
Irving's book, The Destruction of Dresden,
is the quite easily the most influential piece of literature on what
is now the most controversial topic of the Second World War. Every
piece of historiography in relation to the subject of the Dresden
raids after his book is either a reaction to his book or misguidedly
furthering his claims. To say he is not an important figure in the
Dresden debate is either a mistake or wrong.
Upon
the release of his infamous book, The Destruction of
Dresden, the historical and
wider community readily gorged themselves on a banquet of facts
guided by An ideology that many had seen its apparent death in 1945.
This fruit was eaten by many literature-men, letting the evidence
Irving presented form their arguments by failing to look into
Irving's background and saw it as unimportant to delve deeper into
important facts and sources. Kurt Vonnegut gladly quoted the Air
Marshall Saundby's introduction of the 1963 edition of Irving's book
to draw further comparisons between the dreadful demise of Dresden
and the great air campaign of the Vietnam war.1
Irving's influence is far reaching and spreads into even the Cold War
through Vonnegut's work, quite seamless considering both are great
pieces of fiction.
1K.
Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five,
Vintage, 2000, p. 154-155
