In the last years of the Second World War, a million tonnes of bombs were dropped by the Allies on 131 German towns and cities. 600,000 civilians died, seven and a half million Germans were left homeless. W.G. Sebald's lucid but harrowing essays explore the consequences for the German people of the mass destruction of their cities. 'Sebald makes exquisite art out of vile history.' Boyd Tonkin, The Independent 'On the Natural History of Destruction is such a timely and startling book because Sebald is not proud to be telling the truth about Germany after the war, he is just dismayed that it might always need to be told' Adam Phillips 'In the past few decades we have become suspicious, rightly, of claims for literary greatness, but in Sebald's case the claim was triumphantly justified. He was, he is, the real thing.' John Banville