Chapter 6 notes the development of the new B-29 bomber and how that extended the range of bombing the Americans could conduct against Japan. They believed that war could thus be waged more humanely because collateral damage, including civilian deaths, could be minimized and wars ended faster. Malcolm Gladwells exploration of how technology and best intentions collide in the heat of war. Starting in 2022, Starbucks is expanding its Veterans Day freebie to include an additional product: iced coffee. [18] In The Daily Telegraph, military historian Saul David called the book "error prone" and "bedevilled by the same oversimplification of the world into a single Big Idea that is characteristic of his other work", and gave the book two out of five stars. This was all in one plane. Gladwell argues that LeMays savage firebombing campaign succeeded, and that, combined with the two atomic bombs that followed, shortened the war. An exploration of how technology and best intentions collide in the heat of war In The Bomber Mafia, Malcolm Gladwell weaves together the stories of a Dutch genius and his homemade computer, a band of brothers in central Alabama, a British psychopath, and pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard to examine one of the greatest moral challenges in modern American history. Why must they act like peas? We are excited to provide you an exclusiveListener'sGuidethat offers an inside look at the production process, archival imagery, and commentary from Malcolm and the producers and engineers involved with this extraordinaryproject. Of course today he would be ignored and demoted. He advocated the close coordination of air and ground forces, with an emphasis on medium bombers and fighter bombers. [22] Writing for the Los Angeles Review of Books, professors David Fedman and Cary Karacas state "[a]s a piece of writing, The Bomber Mafia is engaging. In the late 1930s, they shared a philosophy that with the new Norden bombsight, bombing could be done more effectively, hitting the enemys vital military targets (called choke points). This change of commandand what it meant in terms of military strategyis the crux of this book. LeMay was allowed to kill civilians by the tens of thousands because he had a theory about morale among the populace, which never came close to a conclusion. Malcolm Gladwells exploration of how technology and best intentions collide in the heat of war. by . New Review from Brian Castner: Malcolm Gladwell's "The Bomber Mafia The strategic bombing concept, however, was a major factor in the eventual victory and became the first core doctrine of the independent United States Air Force. This was a ripoff and should have just been a podcast. The book is adapted from a series of podcasts Gladwell created for his show . I caught Gladwell on CNN last Sunday. The kind of indiscriminate destruction that LeMay used to win the war is absolutely a thing of the past, at least for American forces. [9], When the United States entered World War II, the Bomber Mafia's doctrine proved of little military use and costly in implementation with the realities of current technology under real-world combat conditions. The most compelling account is the clash of ideas and the practical options sought to fight on a distant enemy. [4][5] In contrast, American theorists devised a strategy of pin-point bombing that targeted the enemy economy and the production of weapons. This advancement of how warplanes were deployed is rather remarkable. In The Bombing plane Mafia, he hones in on a specific period of history. If burning entire populated cities from the air was effective the war would have been over way sooner in Europe and the Pacific. The Bomber Mafia A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War By: Malcolm Gladwell Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins 4.7 (8,338 ratings) Try for $0.00 Pick 1 title (2 titles for Prime members) from our collection of bestsellers and new releases. 'The Bomber Mafia' Book Review - HistoryNet On page 127 of the hard copy, Gladwell got it backwards when he stated heavily laden B-29s headed for a Japan bombing run had to wait for a tailwind to be able to take off. Curtis LeMays approach brought everyone Americans and Japanese back to peace and prosperity as quickly as possible, he writes. Ive read most of Gladwells books, but he always finds something new to tackle from a different angle. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); June 29, 2021 9 comments. And then they did the same thing to another city. Do you know if the book had more/different material than the podcast? The words "Bomber Mafia" refer to a group of American pilots in the 1930s stationed at what was then called Maxwell Field in Montgomery, Alabama. It's true: The audiobook breaks conventional audiobook standards, as this is a well-produced audio experience. [13] The result furthered the Allies' military objectives leading to Japan's surrender, such as with the Bombing of Tokyo on March 10, 1945 with Operation Meetinghouse. After the war, the 20 years of foundational work by the bomber mafia resulted in the separation of the United States Air Force from the Army to become an independent military arm. Youll hear the voices of generals, the sound of aircrafts and bombs crashing. Those are exactly the same, but there's a lot more to the book. Talking to Strangers is a classically Gladwellian intellectual adventure, a challenging and controversial excursion through history, psychology, and scandals taken straight from the news. The audiobook brings to life the stories. Norden, LeMay, the Air force, DuPont, a complete range of personalities that created methods to make war much more effective, with the hope that this war would certainly be the last. Much of the book concerns the technical and practical aspect. When he is introducing characters and showing them in conflict, The Bomber Mafia is gripping. Visit gladwellbooks.com for moreinformation. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. After you enter your email address, youll get a unique link. Subscribe to the Military.com newsletter to have military news, updates and resources delivered straight to your inbox. Whether it was the atom bombs or LeMays bombing tactic that hastened the Japanese to surrender will always be a debatable topic. The villain, or at least loser in this account, is another Air Force general, Haywood Hansell, who had tried to win the war in the Pacific through the precision-bombing of Japan. The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell - Audiobook - Audible.com Take capers these are certainly not peas. Is this book appropriate for an 11-year old that reads a lot WW II history and fiction books? Malcolm Gladwell's "The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War" is a kind of love song to the United States Air Force, which is surprising, because. The destruction was so far beyond anything theyd seen before that the reality of the reports coming in from American bases in the Mariana Islands just didnt register. Welcome back. "[26] Fedman and Karacas state "[w]ittingly or not, [Gladwell] omits or downplays evidence that undermines the very premise of the book. Agreed? Many historians posit that the primary reason for Japanese surrender was not the use of the atom bomb. He revisits the deceptions of Bernie Madoff, the trial of Amanda Knox, the suicide of Sylvia Plath, the Jerry Sandusky pedophilia scandal at Penn State University, and the death of Sandra Blandthrowing our understanding of these and other stories into doubt. Please simply click here to enter your email address (no additional purchase required) and you will receive the Listeners Guide. Book Review: Technology, Will and War's Deadliest Night in Malcolm Ultimately, though, the Bomber Mafia was right. The imposter foods ought to additionally be moved up on the bomb listing. The United States had already completely cut off Japans oil supplies and pipelines by the middle of 1944/beginning of 1945, and decimated their navy. [2] In November 1932 when British Lord President of the Council Stanley Baldwin said "the bomber will always get through", he was talking about the terror bombing of cities. Yup, thats right! The Bomber Mafia, through a "failure of imagination" in not expanding the doctrine to include establishing air superiority as a prerequisite for success,[16] would not accept either of these conceptsthey believed the heavy bomber fleet could protect itself, and thus they contributed to the delay in the development of a long-range escort fighter until two years into the war. I enjoyed this short book thoroughly, and would have been happy if it had been twice as long. Copyright 2023 Free Audiobooks. The US Bomber Mafia agreed with Baldwin only in that the bomber would prevail in its mission. This guide is based on the hardcover first edition. The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War is a nonfiction book by Malcolm Gladwell, published in 2021. Required fields are marked *. This was in the 1930s, the era of the bomber, a new breed of aircraft that could supposedly drop a bomb from six miles up and land it in a pickle barrel. But a small band of idealistic strategists had a different view. This was not a standalone event. As an expert in the use of air units to aid artillery and infantry, Gordon P. Saville held to the concept of tactical air power through his time as ACTS instructor from 1934 to 1936. In World War II, the Bomber Mafia's theory of the primacy of unescorted daylight strategic bombing was proved wrong. Malcolm Gladwells The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War is a kind of love song to the United States Air Force, which is surprising, because it is the least romantic of our armed services, with leaders who focus on technology, not tradition. The Bomber Mafia His scorched-earth philosophy was most evident in the indiscriminate firebombings of Tokyo in 1945 that left an estimated 100,000 civilians dead. WATCH SEGMENT. On the eve of the Second World War, a band of visionaries at Maxwell Air Force Base tried to reimagine modern warfare. Part one on the extraordinary life of the Air Force General Curtis LeMay. Simply not a subject I seem out, neither do I think I would certainly have liked it as much had I review. Instead, the bomber fleets were a major factor in the general American war effort, helping to reduce the enemy fighting power, especially in Japan where they destroyed the largest cities by shifting to area incendiary bombing tactics. Malcolm Gladwell on the Hard Decisions of War, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/25/books/review/the-bomber-mafia-malcolm-gladwell.html. From what Ive read, dropping the atomic bombs was more a signal to Russia of our strength than a strategy to defeat Japan, which was pretty much defeated already. Bomber Mafia, A Story Set in War by Malcolm Gladwell - LinkedIn And also yet, this publication is something that maintains you invested as it exists as a little bit more than an item of history. [pdf] The Bomber Mafia By Malcolm Gladwell PDF Download The Bomber Mafia | Revisionist History - Pushkin Industries It was decided primarily by General Curtis LeMay to carpet bomb Tokyo, using napalm. Almost 100 B-24 planes were lost with only minimal damage done to the ball bearing plant. I knew the Americans went down two atomic weapons to shorten the battle as well as bring Japan to its knees as well as accept surrender to conserve countless lives needed to get into those islands. Malcolm Gladwell's Fantasy of War From the Air - The New Republic The biggest runs against a strategic target, specifically a ball bearing factory, largely was a failure. This was a team of obsessive however significant men who wanted to prevent the British approach in any way prices as their aircrews were trained with computer system like bombsights, and also needed to plunder in clear skies from high mindset. Bomber Mafia is story of efficiency, morality and technology. [21] The book debuted and peaked at number two on The New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover nonfiction on May 16, 2021.[28]. After the war, LeMay was given a high medal by the Japanese government. I was also aware of Bomber Harris who led the fire battle on Germany, and I have actually reviewed exactly how this impacted cities like Dresden. These pilots dreamed of more humane ways to conduct wars. Curtis Lemay as well as Haywood Hansell are opposite ends of a range in the high adrenaline battle Flying force. [12] The teaching of fighter ("pursuit") tactics declined, though Earle E. Partridge and Hoyt S. Vandenberg continued to discuss the role of the fighter. Regardless, it was estimated that there would have been 2 MILLION American casualties had there been an invasion. [16], The book was met with mixed reviews upon release, with four mixed reviews, one positive review, three pan reviews, and two rave reviews as of November14, 2021[update] according to review aggregator Book Marks. The Bomber Mafia follows the stories of a reclusive Dutch genius and his homemade computer, Winston Churchill's forbidding best friend, a team of pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard, a brilliant pilot who sang vaudeville tunes to his crew, and the bomber commander, Curtis Emerson LeMay, who would order the bloodiest attack of the Second World War. The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War (Kindle Edition) Published April 27th 2021 by Little, Brown and Company Kindle Edition Author(s): Malcolm Gladwell. Hansell was not the moral opposite of LeMay. Something is very wrong, Gladwell argues, with the tools and strategies we use to make sense of people we dont know. Contact Us | Copyright 2023 Military.com. General Haywood Hansell was the leader of The Bomber Mafia, a small group within the military that believed an emerging technologyairborne warfarecould make wars shorter and far less deadly. Or the soldier in a minefield whose buddy is bleeding to death? you can submit them using the q&a button. Malcom Gladwells book Talking to Strangers is a very good book that ties together In spite of the horrifying damage inflicted by napalm bombs, many Japanese believed theyre what caused the government to surrender. These Podcasts Aren't So Sure", "Presenting: The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell", "The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War", "The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell review why 'precision bombing' is an utter delusion", "Wrestling with the strategy and morality of the firebombing of Japan", "The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell, review the Outliers author on the morality of war", "Malcolm Gladwell on the Hard Decisions of War", "When Pop History Bombs: A Response to Malcolm Gladwell's Love Letter to American Air Power", "Malcolm Gladwell's The Bomber Mafia is misleading history-lite", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Bomber_Mafia&oldid=1134344848, This page was last edited on 18 January 2023, at 06:23. It's pretty much about the history of how the military went from ground wars to air wars and theoretically . Sen. Amy Klobuchar Talks the G7 Summit. T H E B O M B E R M A FI A. l i ste n er's g u i de ma lc o l m g l a d w e l l Thank you for purchasing Malcolm Gladwell's The Bomber Mafia.. LeMays solution was to saturate Tokyo with napalm bombs, killing as many as 100,000 people in about six hours, and then to go on and firebomb dozens of other Japanese cities, killing thousands upon thousands, sometimes when the target cities were of little or no military value. The Bomber Mafia Summary and Study Guide | SuperSummary But I dont think the ghost of LeMay can be put to rest so easily. Nixon tried the LeMay strategy in North Vietnam, and we all know how that ended. A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War The Bomber Mafia Malcolm Gladwell's exploration of how technology and best intentions collide in the heat of war Learn More Buy the Hardcover and eBook eBook Hardcover Buy the Audiobook Pushkin Audiobook About Malcolm Highly recommend it. Some apps may require users to copy their URL and paste it directly into the app. How did Fidel Castro fool the CIA for a generation? It is also the story of the ascent of Air force. Relevance; Rating; Price (Ascending) Most Recent; View: Filter. The three factors that accounted for 91% of the rankings were (1) total endowment (2) price of tuition and (3) how many white people were on campus. A second shell hit the radio compartment, cutting the legs of the radio operator off at the knees. [7], To effect this doctrine, the United States Army Air Corps would need to expend the majority of its resources in amassing a fleet of self-defending heavy bombers, and in the training and maintenance of a great many airmen to fill aircrew and ground crew positions. [18][19][20] James McConnachie of The Times stated "for a book that is not a war story, this one is brilliantly, brilliantly told".