Bombing Civilians examines a crucial question: why did military planning in the early twentieth century shift its focus from bombing military targets to bombing civilians?
From the British bombing of Iraq in the early 1920s to the most recent policies in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Lebanon.
Bombing Civilians analyzes in detail the history of indiscriminate bombing, examining the fundamental questions of how this theory justifying mass killing originated and why it was employed as a compelling military strategy for decades, both before and since the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The bombing of civilians is one ofthe great scandals of the twentieth century, culminating in the use of the cruelest weapon yet devised. Until now we have had no comprehensive volume on the subject. Young and Tanaka's inclusive approach makes clear that every form of regime is capable of such criminal behavior. The powerful moral criticisms raised by these searching essays extend from the bombing of civilians to war itself. This book will quickly become a classic."
ROBERT JAY LIFTON, author of Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima
"This volume is long overdue and must be welcomed, despite its grim subject matter, because it is time we had a careful examination of one ofthe great horors of modern times: the indiscriminate but also the deliberate killing of civilians by aerial bombing. The writers of these essays, all distinguished scholars, examine the history of such bombings through the twentieth century and dissect the various excuses given for them by political and military leaders. Common to all the essays is an unmistakable and unspoken core of moral outrage, buttressed by meticulous research and unassailable logic."
HOWARD ZINN
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