In 1962, he wrote a series of 37 articles on the Allied bombing campaign, "Und Deutschlands Städte starben nicht" ("And Germany's Cities Did Not Die"), for the German boulevard journal "Neue Illustrierte". These were the basis for his first book, "The Destruction of Dresden" (1963), in which he examined the Allied bombing of Dresden in February 1945. By the 1960s, a debate about the morality of the carpet bombing of German cities and civilian population had already begun, especially in the United Kingdom. There was consequently considerable interest in Irving's book, which was illustrated with graphic pictures, and it became an international best-seller.