As the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II draws to a close, the controversy still rages.

It is essentially an argument between Japanese and Americans, but it also pits the politically correct American Left against veterans and their many supporters. On one side are those who believe the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were a necessary evil. Had the war continued and a planned invasion of the Japanese islands been carried out, they argue, there would have been at least a million American - and Japanese - casualties.

On the other side are those who focus on the vast devastation and human loss caused by the bombs. Rain of Ruin is the first comprehensive photographic record of the bombings. The prolific team of Donald M. Goldstein, Katherine V. Dillon, and J. Michael Wenger have created another World War II classic in their selection of over four hundred photographs of U.S. preparations for the attack and of the two cities and their people before, during, and after those fateful days.