As American forces pushed the Japanese back across the Pacific from 1942-1944, it became possible for the Air Force to conduct bombing runs over the Japanese mainland. The first serious air raids concentrated on military targets at the fringes of the city, particularly air defenses. However, the air raids on the night of March 9 involved strategic or area bombing, in which waves of bombers flew low over Tokyo for over two and a half hours, dropping incendiary bombs with the intention of producing a massive firestorm. The raids intended to produce fires that would kill soldiers and civilians, as well as the munitions factories and apartment buildings of those who worked in them. 325 B-29s dropped bombs on Tokyo, destroying more than 267,000 buildings and killing more than 83,000 people, making it the deadliest day of the war. The firebombing left 25% of Tokyo charred, with the damage spread out over 20 miles of the metropolis, damage so extensive that casualty counts range by over 100,000. Additional raids, largely on the north and west, came in April and May. American bombers flew more than 4,000 missions over Tokyo before surrender. As with dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the firebombing of Tokyo has remained controversial since the end of World War II. Japan had wisely spread out its industrial facilities across Tokyo so that one concerted attack could not deal a severe blow to its military capabilities. But by spreading everything out, Allied planes hit targets in residential zones, greatly increasing the casualties, destroying much of Tokyoâ??s wartime manufacturing, but also destroying half the city. This book chronicles the background of the campaign, its destruction, and its legacy, along with pictures of important people, places, and even