Call number
940.5449 GLA
Collection
Genres
Publication
Little, Brown and Company (2021), Edition: 1st, 256 pages
Description
"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. Most military thinkers in the years leading up to World War II saw the airplane as an afterthought. But a small band of idealistic strategists had a different view. This 'Bomber Mafia' asked: What if precision bombing could, just by taking out critical choke points -- industrial or transportation hubs -- cripple the enemy and make war far less lethal? In his podcast, Revisionist History, Gladwell re-examines moments from the past and asks whether we got it right the first time. In The Bomber Mafia, he steps back from the bombing of Tokyo, the deadliest night of the war, and asks, "Was it worth it?" The attack was the brainchild of General Curtis LeMay, whose brutal pragmatism and scorched-earth tactics in Japan cost thousands of civilian lives, but may have spared more by averting a planned US invasion. Things might have gone differently had LeMay's predecessor, General Haywood Hansell, remained in charge. As a key member of the Bomber Mafia, Haywood's theories of precision bombing had been foiled by bad weather, enemy jet fighters, and human error. When he and Curtis LeMay squared off for a leadership handover in the jungles of Guam, LeMay emerged victorious, leading to the darkest night of World War II. The Bomber Mafia is a riveting tale of persistence, innovation, and the incalculable wages of war." --… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member jetangen4571
Basically, air power proponents were like surgeons ("cure anything and everything with a knife") and bombing proponents like neurosurgeons ("fixing God's mistakes and better than any other surgical branch"). Pretty much the history of how the military went from ground wars to air wars and
I requested and received a free temporary ebook copy from Little, Brown and Company via NetGalley. Thank you.
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theoretically narrowing the drop zones of bombs (pipe dreams). It is well researched and focuses on several specific mechanical engineers and physicists, especially those who appear lost to history.I requested and received a free temporary ebook copy from Little, Brown and Company via NetGalley. Thank you.
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LibraryThing member breic
Meh. This should have been a podcast episode, or a *short* New Yorker story. Gladwell blows it up into a short book by adding a little filler material, and a lot of excess verbosity.
It is a good story, even if it is only very shallowly told, I guess without much research. We never learn anything
Gladwell has a thesis, but the story doesn't support it. Oddly, he doesn't even seem to try to support it. He just states the thesis repeatedly. I like when historians try to find meaning in their history, even if it is debatable. But in this case, I don't know what to think, Gladwell's approach is so bizarre.
> In America, at the Air Corps Tactical School, the Bomber Mafia dreamed of a world where bombs were used with dazzling precision. Lindemann went out of his way to promote the opposite approach—and the only explanation Snow could come up with is personal. Lindemann was just a sadist. He found it satisfying to reduce the cities of the enemy to rubble: “About him there hung a kind of atmosphere of indefinable malaise. You felt that he didn’t understand his own life well, and he wasn’t very good at coping with the major things. He was venomous; he was harsh-tongued; he had a malicious, sadistic sense of humor, but nevertheless you felt somehow he was lost.”
> The most important fact about Carl Norden, the godfather of precision bombing, is not that he was a brilliant engineer or a hopeless eccentric. It’s that he was a devoted Christian. As historian Stephen McFarland puts it, You might wonder, if he thought he was being in service to humanity, why he would develop sights to help people drop bombs. And the reason was because he was a true believer that by making bombing accuracy better, he could save lives.
> So LeMay said, Let’s try it. Let’s fly in straight. A seven-minute-long, straight and steady approach. And if that sounded suicidal—which it did to all his pilots—he added, I’m going to be the first to try it. In a 1942 bombing run over Saint-Nazaire, France, LeMay led the way. He took no evasive action. And what happened? His group put twice as many bombs on the target as any group had before. And they didn’t lose a single bomber.
> In his memoir, Hitler’s minister of armaments and war production, Albert Speer, provides a detailed account of the Schweinfurt missions and what he calls “the enemy’s error.” He notes: “The attacks on the ball-bearing industry ceased abruptly. Thus, the Allies threw away success when it was already in their hands. Had they continued the attacks…with the same energy, we would quickly have been at our last gasp."
> The first step was building the B-29 Superfortress, the greatest bomber ever built, with an effective range of more than three thousand miles. The next step was capturing a string of three tiny islands in the middle of the western Pacific: Saipan, Tinian, and Guam. They were the Mariana Islands, controlled by the Japanese. The Marianas were 1,500 miles across the water from Tokyo
> Over the course of the war, how many American planes do you think crashed while trying to navigate over the Hump? Seven hundred. The flying route was called “the aluminum trail” because of all the debris scattered over the mountains.
> The only way they could get gasoline to Chengdu was by flying the Hump. Sometimes, if they had a headwind, it took twelve gallons of a B-29’s gasoline to bring one gallon over the Hump.
> Hottel first tried British thermite bombs, which were favored by the RAF commander Arthur Harris in his night raids on Germany. They compared those results with those of Hershberg and Fieser’s napalm, packed inside bombs that went by the name M69.
> At one point, in late December, the second in command of the entire Army Air Forces, Lauris Norstad, gave Hansell a direct order: launch a napalm attack on the Japanese city of Nagoya as soon as possible. It was, in Norstad’s words, “an urgent requirement for planning purposes.” Hansell did a trial run and burned down a paltry three acres of the city. Then he grimaced, shrugged, delayed, promising to do something bigger at some point, maybe, when his other work was finished.
> Then Norstad turned to Hansell, completely out of the blue, and said: You’re out. Curtis LeMay’s taking over.
> Jet stream plus heavy cloud cover means low. Low means night. And the decision to switch to night raids means you can’t do precision bombing anymore
> One of LeMay’s pilots once said that when he confessed his fears to LeMay, LeMay replied: “Ralph, you’re probably going to get killed, so it’s best to accept it. You’ll get along much better.”
> After the firebombing of Tokyo in March of 1945, Curtis LeMay and the Twenty-First Bomber Command ran over the rest of Japan like wild animals. Osaka. Kure. Kobe. Nishinomiya. LeMay burned down 68.9 percent of Okayama, 85 percent of Tokushima, 99 percent of Toyama—sixty-seven Japanese cities in all over the course of half a year. In the chaos of war, it is impossible to say how many Japanese were killed—maybe half a million. Maybe a million. On August 6, the Enola Gay, a specially outfitted B-29, flew from the Marianas to Hiroshima and dropped the world’s first atomic bomb. Yet LeMay kept going.
> LeMay’s firebombing campaign unfolded with none of that deliberation. There was no formal plan behind his summer rampage, no precise direction from his own superiors. To the extent that the war planners back in Washington conceived of a firebombing campaign, they thought of hitting six Japanese cities, not sixty-seven. By July, LeMay was bombing minor Japanese cities that had no strategically important industry at all—just people, living in tinderboxes
> this Japanese historian believed: no firebombs and no atomic bombs, and the Japanese don’t surrender. And if they don’t surrender, the Soviets invade, and then the Americans invade, and Japan gets carved up, just as Germany and the Korean peninsula eventually were.
> The Bomber Mafia: Harold George (above left), Donald Wilson (above right), Ira Eaker, and others were convinced that precision bombing, aimed at crucial choke points of the enemy’s supply chain, could win wars entirely from the air.
It is a good story, even if it is only very shallowly told, I guess without much research. We never learn anything
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about the Norden bombsight, for example, despite its centrality to the story. The Wikipedia article goes into far more detail.Gladwell has a thesis, but the story doesn't support it. Oddly, he doesn't even seem to try to support it. He just states the thesis repeatedly. I like when historians try to find meaning in their history, even if it is debatable. But in this case, I don't know what to think, Gladwell's approach is so bizarre.
> In America, at the Air Corps Tactical School, the Bomber Mafia dreamed of a world where bombs were used with dazzling precision. Lindemann went out of his way to promote the opposite approach—and the only explanation Snow could come up with is personal. Lindemann was just a sadist. He found it satisfying to reduce the cities of the enemy to rubble: “About him there hung a kind of atmosphere of indefinable malaise. You felt that he didn’t understand his own life well, and he wasn’t very good at coping with the major things. He was venomous; he was harsh-tongued; he had a malicious, sadistic sense of humor, but nevertheless you felt somehow he was lost.”
> The most important fact about Carl Norden, the godfather of precision bombing, is not that he was a brilliant engineer or a hopeless eccentric. It’s that he was a devoted Christian. As historian Stephen McFarland puts it, You might wonder, if he thought he was being in service to humanity, why he would develop sights to help people drop bombs. And the reason was because he was a true believer that by making bombing accuracy better, he could save lives.
> So LeMay said, Let’s try it. Let’s fly in straight. A seven-minute-long, straight and steady approach. And if that sounded suicidal—which it did to all his pilots—he added, I’m going to be the first to try it. In a 1942 bombing run over Saint-Nazaire, France, LeMay led the way. He took no evasive action. And what happened? His group put twice as many bombs on the target as any group had before. And they didn’t lose a single bomber.
> In his memoir, Hitler’s minister of armaments and war production, Albert Speer, provides a detailed account of the Schweinfurt missions and what he calls “the enemy’s error.” He notes: “The attacks on the ball-bearing industry ceased abruptly. Thus, the Allies threw away success when it was already in their hands. Had they continued the attacks…with the same energy, we would quickly have been at our last gasp."
> The first step was building the B-29 Superfortress, the greatest bomber ever built, with an effective range of more than three thousand miles. The next step was capturing a string of three tiny islands in the middle of the western Pacific: Saipan, Tinian, and Guam. They were the Mariana Islands, controlled by the Japanese. The Marianas were 1,500 miles across the water from Tokyo
> Over the course of the war, how many American planes do you think crashed while trying to navigate over the Hump? Seven hundred. The flying route was called “the aluminum trail” because of all the debris scattered over the mountains.
> The only way they could get gasoline to Chengdu was by flying the Hump. Sometimes, if they had a headwind, it took twelve gallons of a B-29’s gasoline to bring one gallon over the Hump.
> Hottel first tried British thermite bombs, which were favored by the RAF commander Arthur Harris in his night raids on Germany. They compared those results with those of Hershberg and Fieser’s napalm, packed inside bombs that went by the name M69.
> At one point, in late December, the second in command of the entire Army Air Forces, Lauris Norstad, gave Hansell a direct order: launch a napalm attack on the Japanese city of Nagoya as soon as possible. It was, in Norstad’s words, “an urgent requirement for planning purposes.” Hansell did a trial run and burned down a paltry three acres of the city. Then he grimaced, shrugged, delayed, promising to do something bigger at some point, maybe, when his other work was finished.
> Then Norstad turned to Hansell, completely out of the blue, and said: You’re out. Curtis LeMay’s taking over.
> Jet stream plus heavy cloud cover means low. Low means night. And the decision to switch to night raids means you can’t do precision bombing anymore
> One of LeMay’s pilots once said that when he confessed his fears to LeMay, LeMay replied: “Ralph, you’re probably going to get killed, so it’s best to accept it. You’ll get along much better.”
> After the firebombing of Tokyo in March of 1945, Curtis LeMay and the Twenty-First Bomber Command ran over the rest of Japan like wild animals. Osaka. Kure. Kobe. Nishinomiya. LeMay burned down 68.9 percent of Okayama, 85 percent of Tokushima, 99 percent of Toyama—sixty-seven Japanese cities in all over the course of half a year. In the chaos of war, it is impossible to say how many Japanese were killed—maybe half a million. Maybe a million. On August 6, the Enola Gay, a specially outfitted B-29, flew from the Marianas to Hiroshima and dropped the world’s first atomic bomb. Yet LeMay kept going.
> LeMay’s firebombing campaign unfolded with none of that deliberation. There was no formal plan behind his summer rampage, no precise direction from his own superiors. To the extent that the war planners back in Washington conceived of a firebombing campaign, they thought of hitting six Japanese cities, not sixty-seven. By July, LeMay was bombing minor Japanese cities that had no strategically important industry at all—just people, living in tinderboxes
> this Japanese historian believed: no firebombs and no atomic bombs, and the Japanese don’t surrender. And if they don’t surrender, the Soviets invade, and then the Americans invade, and Japan gets carved up, just as Germany and the Korean peninsula eventually were.
> The Bomber Mafia: Harold George (above left), Donald Wilson (above right), Ira Eaker, and others were convinced that precision bombing, aimed at crucial choke points of the enemy’s supply chain, could win wars entirely from the air.
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LibraryThing member ericlee
If Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book about cardboard boxes, I would buy it. He could write about paint drying and make it interesting. I think every non-fiction author wants to grow up to be Malcolm Gladwell. This is a man who is a master storyteller — and his latest book is no exception. The Bomber
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Mafia of the title was a group of men serving in what eventually became the United States Air Force. Following on the First World War, which saw the first use of heavier-than-air craft, the first dogfights, the first aerial bombardment of cities, they had a dream. Their dream was that using new technology like the Norden bombsight, bombs could be dropped precisely where needed. There would be no need to kill civilians, armies would not need to clash on the battlefield, and wars would be waged quickly and cleanly with minimal loss of life. Of course it was an absurd idea, but it was tested in practice by the Americans during their air wars in Europe against Nazi Germany and in the Pacific against Imperial Japan. They discovered that their vision was an illusion. It didn’t work. Eventually, the most outspoken of the Bomber Mafia crowd, Haywood Hansell, found himself without a job. His replacement, commanding a fleet of B-29 bombers that could reach Japan, was General Curtis LeMay. LeMay decided to deploy a new technology, napalm, which did the opposite of what the visionaries had in mind. Instead of precision attacks on Japanese war industries — which proved to be nearly impossible — LeMay took advantage of the fact that Japanese civilians lived in densely packed neighbourhoods in houses made of wood. He launched raids that were specifically designed to create firestorms in those cities, causing incredible levels of devastation — and the loss of many thousands of lives. From LeMay’s point of view, the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the icing on the cake: the war had been won, he believed, by his bombers setting Japanese cities, including Tokyo, ablaze. An incredible story, told brilliantly – highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member Beamis12
The deadliest raid of WWII, what led up to it and who was involved. This was a stunning but entertaining audio books, one I probably wouldn't have picked up if it wasn't written by Gladwell. Just not a subject I seem out, nor do I think I would have liked it as much had I read. The Audio features
Norden, LeMay, the Air force, DuPont, a full range of characters that invented ways to make war more effective, with the hope that this war would be the last. Highlights how technological advances are often used in ways they were not meant. Limited in scope, short in play time, I found this thought provoking.
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music, sound effects, spoken archival interviews, even one by Ronald Reagan and Gladwell's voice was perfect for the narration.Norden, LeMay, the Air force, DuPont, a full range of characters that invented ways to make war more effective, with the hope that this war would be the last. Highlights how technological advances are often used in ways they were not meant. Limited in scope, short in play time, I found this thought provoking.
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LibraryThing member thewanderingjew
Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the longest night of the Second World War, Maxwell Gladwell, author and narrator
During World War II, it was imperative for the Americans to have a place from which to stage their aircraft in order to attack Japan. The Mariana Islands enabled our bombers to
In this brief book, two generals are largely featured as integral parts of the war effort. One is Major General Haywood S. Hansell Jr. and the other is General Curtis LeMay. One was fired for not accomplishing the goal of winning the war and the other was hired and did successfully bring about its end. One considered all consequences and casualties on the road to victory, resulting in catastrophic failure, and the other was headstrong and focused first and foremost on the ultimate goal of winning without regard to the loss of innocent lives.
Citing many examples, complete with quotes, sound effects and audio commentary from the actual persons involved , Gladwell explains how the idea of precision bombing came about and explores the types of men and methods involved in developing it. A group of forward-thinking men who were not afraid to think outside of the box, became the “Bomber Mafia. In spite of opposition in favor of carpet bombing, rather than precision bombing, eventually this group helped to bring about an end to the terrible war, though history has shown that they did not get appropriate credit for it and remained largely unacknowledged.
Without their creative ideas, coupled with their courage to persevere and develop them, the war would probably have continued far longer and accrued many more American casualties and fatalities. Their technology somewhat improved the accuracy of the bombers, but their ultimate achievement was the development of Napalm. Previously, bombings were haphazard, with bombs randomly dropping in approximate areas, sometimes missing the mark altogether. With their bomb sights, a more precise target could be chosen and struck more effectively. That technology, however, was not advanced enough, at that time, to end the war. The terrible incendiary devices were more effective and far more destructive of property and human life. As the author notes, in hindsight it is easy to judge the violence and destruction more harshly, but as one is experiencing the theater of war, one thinks only of inflicting harm on the enemy to bring about its end without our continued loss of life. The Bomber Mafia were at odds with the prevailing judgment of military men, but ultimately, they paved the way for the more precise war efforts of today.
Maxwell Gladwell narrates his book very well, with just the right emotional stress coupled with an intellectual approach. He treats each word as if seeing it for the first time and as is if he is being enlightened with the facts along with the listener.
During World War II, it was imperative for the Americans to have a place from which to stage their aircraft in order to attack Japan. The Mariana Islands enabled our bombers to
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reach their targets. Once capturing them and achieving a staging area, America was faced with a bigger problem. Now that they could reach Japan, how could they make their bombers more accurate? Haphazard bombing produced ineffective results and wasted the time and lives of the soldiers. The planes and bombs were costly, and they and soldiers were often unnecessarily sacrificed because they were unable to be used strategically. Not only did the pilots need to be more accurate, but they had to be used more effectively. They had to be able to fly in all types of weather and at all times of the day and night. Although the technique of precision bombing wasn’t perfected until after WWII, their efforts to develop more effective weapons turned the tide of the war. The unsung heroes of the Bomber Mafia designed and developed these more advanced tools of war which ultimately brought about its end. In this brief book, two generals are largely featured as integral parts of the war effort. One is Major General Haywood S. Hansell Jr. and the other is General Curtis LeMay. One was fired for not accomplishing the goal of winning the war and the other was hired and did successfully bring about its end. One considered all consequences and casualties on the road to victory, resulting in catastrophic failure, and the other was headstrong and focused first and foremost on the ultimate goal of winning without regard to the loss of innocent lives.
Citing many examples, complete with quotes, sound effects and audio commentary from the actual persons involved , Gladwell explains how the idea of precision bombing came about and explores the types of men and methods involved in developing it. A group of forward-thinking men who were not afraid to think outside of the box, became the “Bomber Mafia. In spite of opposition in favor of carpet bombing, rather than precision bombing, eventually this group helped to bring about an end to the terrible war, though history has shown that they did not get appropriate credit for it and remained largely unacknowledged.
Without their creative ideas, coupled with their courage to persevere and develop them, the war would probably have continued far longer and accrued many more American casualties and fatalities. Their technology somewhat improved the accuracy of the bombers, but their ultimate achievement was the development of Napalm. Previously, bombings were haphazard, with bombs randomly dropping in approximate areas, sometimes missing the mark altogether. With their bomb sights, a more precise target could be chosen and struck more effectively. That technology, however, was not advanced enough, at that time, to end the war. The terrible incendiary devices were more effective and far more destructive of property and human life. As the author notes, in hindsight it is easy to judge the violence and destruction more harshly, but as one is experiencing the theater of war, one thinks only of inflicting harm on the enemy to bring about its end without our continued loss of life. The Bomber Mafia were at odds with the prevailing judgment of military men, but ultimately, they paved the way for the more precise war efforts of today.
Maxwell Gladwell narrates his book very well, with just the right emotional stress coupled with an intellectual approach. He treats each word as if seeing it for the first time and as is if he is being enlightened with the facts along with the listener.
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LibraryThing member drmaf
More of an extended essay than a history book, I found the premise puzzling. By reducing the story to essentially a contest between two rival theories of bombing, represented by two particular American generals, it becomes almost a work of philosophy rather a history. Is it OK to run a war with the
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aim of killing as few innocent people as possible, or is it better to go all out and kill indiscriminately with the goal of saving more lives in the long run? How did this contest lead to the creation of napalm, which apart from the A-bomb is possibly the most destructive weapon eve developed? And how did the jetstream contribute to the decision to stop precision-bombing Japanese factories and instead use napalm to burn hundreds of thousands to death? Its an interesting and thought-provoking book, but left me curiously unsatisfied. Still well worth reading though. Show Less
LibraryThing member etxgardener
History is written by the winners and for a lot of RAF generals and USAF Gen. Curtis LeMay that’s a very good thing because all things being equal, they should have been tried for war crimes in promoting saturation bombing during World War II. Gladwell’s band of flying brothers stationed in
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central Alabama promoted daytime strategic bombing that concentrated on precisely targeting military and industrial targets with far fewer civilian casualties that the saturation bombing advocated by the RAF. American General Heywood Hansell, a proponent of strategic bombing appeared to be winning the argument, but when he squared off with Curtis LeMay in Guam, he lost both the argument and his command and the rest is history This is a fascinating look at what might have been. Show Less
LibraryThing member lamour
In the 1930's, American military planners knew they should prepare their country to fight a war they saw looming on the horizon. The Norden Bombsight had been developed and they enthusiastically used its development to plan to bomb exact targets and avoid killing many civilians.
However, flying a
When the Americans developed the B-29 which could cross the great distances to Japan, their commander on the scene, Curtis LeMay knew what damage napalm could do to Japanese houses and he decided to burn Japanese cities to the ground. His first city was Tokyo and he created a fire storm the killed thousands of people trapped in its narrow streets with no way to escape which became known as the "longest night of the second world war". He felt dropping the Atomic Bomb was unnecessary as the Japanese would have soon surrendered after he had destroyed all their cities.
This is another Gladwell effort that is full of trivia on the main theme and short biographies of the characters he finds were involved. Very informative and interesting.
However, flying a
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bomber at 30,000 feet with high winds, smoke on the ground, antiaircraft artillery and fighter planes shooting at you made hitting anything on the ground you aimed at virtually impossible. The British abandon this idea early in the war and just dropped their bombs all over the target hoping to disrupt civilian life as well as maybe doing some damage to the target.When the Americans developed the B-29 which could cross the great distances to Japan, their commander on the scene, Curtis LeMay knew what damage napalm could do to Japanese houses and he decided to burn Japanese cities to the ground. His first city was Tokyo and he created a fire storm the killed thousands of people trapped in its narrow streets with no way to escape which became known as the "longest night of the second world war". He felt dropping the Atomic Bomb was unnecessary as the Japanese would have soon surrendered after he had destroyed all their cities.
This is another Gladwell effort that is full of trivia on the main theme and short biographies of the characters he finds were involved. Very informative and interesting.
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LibraryThing member jamespurcell
A short but perceptive look at the personalities, weapons, strategies, tactics, and results of US bombing campaigns in WW2.
LibraryThing member judithrs
The Bomber Mafia: a Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War. Malcolm Gladwell, 2021. I don’t think a lot about military history or strategy, but I do think of some of my “guy-buds” who like it and, since the librarian in me will never die, I send them reviews on
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books I think they might like. Gladwell’s book generated some conversation and I was asked my opinion, hence, I read this. It was fascinating but troubling. Gladwell is a good writer; The “bomber Mafia” refers to a group strategists, as close as a “band of brothers.” who were at what is now Maxwell Air Force Basin in Montgomery. Their obsession was precision bombing. They wanted to insure victory by being able to target specific places, buildings or people rather than bomb the crap out of an area hoping the hit their target. Meanwhile at Harvard a group of chemists developed one of the deadliest weapons of all, napalm. Curtis LeMay took over the command of the B-29’s in the Marianas that had been set up to stop the Japanese. He decided to use napalm to bomb Japan, and boy did he ever. Was horrifying: 1665 tons of napalm were dropped. After the war, the United States Strategic Bombing Survey, concluded, “Probably more persons lost their lives by fire at Tokyo in a six-hour period than at any time in the history of man.” The question is was it the moral thing to do. Experts will say it shortened the war just like the A bombs did, and thus saved lives so was, therefore, “just.” Maybe it did, and maye it was, but could it have been done in a more humane way? Not that I can see. That doesn’t make it any easier stomach, May God help and have mercy on those who are faced with these impossible decisions. Show Less
LibraryThing member Katyefk
I really appreciate Malcolm Gladwell's insights and style of taking an obscure fact or story and doing a deep dive into all the related aspects and people involved. This book is one I would have never read except it was chosen by our book club, which gets us all to read out of our normal interest
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areas. I learned a lot about military bombing styles and how they have developed over time, some humane and some sadistic. I would rather we all stop fighting and somehow learn to get along without having to go to war and kill each other to prove a point. Show Less
LibraryThing member writemoves
Before I read this book, I understood that there were mixed reviews of it. I have also seen the critical reviews of the book on Goodreads. That being said, I really enjoyed the book. First, I was not aware of the March 9, 1945 attack on Tokyo. When I read histories of the end of the Pacific theater
Second, Gladwell effectively raises the moral question of bombing civilians. The Germans did this in the battle of Britain but only strengthened the resolve of the English people. Within the US military, there were individuals who only wanted to target military, manufacturing and war supporting industries. They felt that that was the most effective and in a sense the most humane way to end a war.
To be fair, in 1945 it looked like the United States and its allies were going to have to invade Japan. That would've meant hundreds of thousands of American deaths not to mention millions of Japanese who would've died.
But let's face it, we unleashed a lot of barbarism to end the conflict.
Gladwell's book should be read by every head of state, legislators, diplomats and military leaders in every country. There really aren't a lot of ground rules when it comes to war – – barbarism inevitably occurs. Read Gladwell's description of the effects of the napalm bombing in Tokyo:
Buildings burst into flame before the fire ever reach them. Mothers ran from the fire with their babies strapped to their back's only to discover – – when they stopped to rest – – that their babies were on fire. People jumped into the canals off the Sumida River, only to drown when the tide came in or when hundreds of others jumped on top of them. People tried to hang on to steel bridges until the metal grew too hot to the touch, and they fell to their deaths.
The effects of the bombing are summarized below:
After the war, the United States Strategic Bombing Survey concluded the following: “Probably more people lost their lives by fire at Tokyo in a six hour period than at any time in the history of man." As many as 100,000 people died that night.
Some people did not “get” Gladwell’s intent. I think I got it.
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war in 1945, the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki are highlighted.Second, Gladwell effectively raises the moral question of bombing civilians. The Germans did this in the battle of Britain but only strengthened the resolve of the English people. Within the US military, there were individuals who only wanted to target military, manufacturing and war supporting industries. They felt that that was the most effective and in a sense the most humane way to end a war.
To be fair, in 1945 it looked like the United States and its allies were going to have to invade Japan. That would've meant hundreds of thousands of American deaths not to mention millions of Japanese who would've died.
But let's face it, we unleashed a lot of barbarism to end the conflict.
Gladwell's book should be read by every head of state, legislators, diplomats and military leaders in every country. There really aren't a lot of ground rules when it comes to war – – barbarism inevitably occurs. Read Gladwell's description of the effects of the napalm bombing in Tokyo:
Buildings burst into flame before the fire ever reach them. Mothers ran from the fire with their babies strapped to their back's only to discover – – when they stopped to rest – – that their babies were on fire. People jumped into the canals off the Sumida River, only to drown when the tide came in or when hundreds of others jumped on top of them. People tried to hang on to steel bridges until the metal grew too hot to the touch, and they fell to their deaths.
The effects of the bombing are summarized below:
After the war, the United States Strategic Bombing Survey concluded the following: “Probably more people lost their lives by fire at Tokyo in a six hour period than at any time in the history of man." As many as 100,000 people died that night.
Some people did not “get” Gladwell’s intent. I think I got it.
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LibraryThing member Magus_Manders
A very engaging account, but looking into the response and analysis finds that Gladwell had over-simplified or misrepresented many points. I love a good pop history, and this one is a great listen. But as a non-expert on the subject there are too many issues that need clarifying for me to be
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comfortable recommending this as a work of history. Show Less
LibraryThing member Slipdigit
The Bomber Mafia, Malcolm Gladwell, pub. by Little, Brown, 2021, 231pp with photos. ISBN 978 0 316 29661 8
This is a discussion of the schools of though in bombing theory during the 1930s into WWII. It reads a bit like a novel and compares the personalities and motivations of the principal
It was interesting and quick read. Judging by his comment, the author had access to the thoughts by then current Air Force leadership and conducted research at Maxwell AFB. I kind of felt he touched the top of the story without going deeply into the story.
7/10 Would recommend as an additional source.
This is a discussion of the schools of though in bombing theory during the 1930s into WWII. It reads a bit like a novel and compares the personalities and motivations of the principal
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architects of US bombing theory (specifically Heywood Hansel) and the shift to area bombing in 1945 under LeMay.It was interesting and quick read. Judging by his comment, the author had access to the thoughts by then current Air Force leadership and conducted research at Maxwell AFB. I kind of felt he touched the top of the story without going deeply into the story.
7/10 Would recommend as an additional source.
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LibraryThing member AKBouterse
I listened to this as an audiobook, which makes the most sense because it was originally an audio script and then turned into a book. It's almost like a 5-hour podcast with inserted interviews and sound effects.
Of the World Wars, I'm much more interested in WWI but I honestly don't know too much
If you are going to read this I would recommend the audiobook for sure, though I did read along with the book and that is fine but you definitely lose something in the transition from audio to text. This is a short, interesting book and I enjoyed it.
Of the World Wars, I'm much more interested in WWI but I honestly don't know too much
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about either so almost all of this information was new to me. In all of his books, you can get a pretty good idea of what Gladwell's opinions are. Some people like this, some people don't. I don't really care either way. I thought this was a well-produced audio story that had a lot of interesting information. If you are going to read this I would recommend the audiobook for sure, though I did read along with the book and that is fine but you definitely lose something in the transition from audio to text. This is a short, interesting book and I enjoyed it.
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LibraryThing member MrDickie
This book was of interest to me because in 1948 we lived in Bellevue, NE when General Curtis Lemay came to Nebraska to command the Strategic Air Command. My mother taught his daughter in fourth grade. I was in the other fourth grade class.
LibraryThing member cpg
Perhaps because of the way it originated, this book reads like the transcript of a talk or a podcast. Repetition makes sense in the latter contexts for emphasis or to remind the listener. It doesn't make so much sense for an attentive reader who wants to read serious history seriously.
The topic
Still, this slight little book treats some things too casually. The Bomber Mafia apparently thought it was wrong to target a nation's houses but not that nation's water supply. Why the one and not the other? The book doesn't seem to say. And I've read enough about the British air war against Germany (and talked to enough civilian survivors of that war) to not be a big fan of Bomber Harris, but Gladwell's close reading of a statement by Harris in an effort to prove that Harris was a psychopath seems rather sloppy to me.
The topic
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Gladwell addresses is an important and interesting one: the morality of the aerial bombing of civilians in wartime. And to the extent that the public as a whole has been ignorant of, in particular, the American fire-bombing of Japan in World War 2, it's good that Gladwell has written a best-seller to remedy the situation.Still, this slight little book treats some things too casually. The Bomber Mafia apparently thought it was wrong to target a nation's houses but not that nation's water supply. Why the one and not the other? The book doesn't seem to say. And I've read enough about the British air war against Germany (and talked to enough civilian survivors of that war) to not be a big fan of Bomber Harris, but Gladwell's close reading of a statement by Harris in an effort to prove that Harris was a psychopath seems rather sloppy to me.
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LibraryThing member scottjpearson
World War I unleashed many technological advances into warfare. These mainly brought about more advanced ways to kill more and more humans. After the war, a group of American military thinkers nicknamed the “Bomber Mafia” developed a theory about airplanes and the ability to undertake precision
However, this plan seemed to fail when World War II erupted, both in the European theater and in the Pacific theater. Eventually, on both fronts, area bombing became the modus operandi and produced massive casualties. Ironically, most leaders at the time and most historians today credit these area bombing campaigns with ultimately shortening the war. By their demoralizing civilian impact, a wholesale (and costly) land invasion of Japan was averted.
In recent American military campaigns (both Gulf Wars, Afghanistan, and Kosovo), precision bombing has avoided massive civilian casualties and produced quick victories. However, confidence in the ease of these techniques only encourage more violence, not less, and over-reliance on them can potentially make costly mistakes more common.
In journalistic fashion, Gladwell originally produced this work for presentation as an audiobook. This format makes listening to the book far more interesting than expected. On top of that, the tale’s novelty entices. World War II has been exhaustively examined by historians, but through thorough investigation of US military records and access to Air Force leadership, Gladwell was able to unearth an untold story. Then he engages the public’s imagination to produce a winning feat. I can find no holes in his execution in telling this well-researched narrative. Kudos for this great presentation!
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bombing. They thought that wars could be won in a more humane manner by targeting critical industries through carefully crafted bombing routines. These could cut down on land casualties at the front and avoid civilian casualties through area bombing.However, this plan seemed to fail when World War II erupted, both in the European theater and in the Pacific theater. Eventually, on both fronts, area bombing became the modus operandi and produced massive casualties. Ironically, most leaders at the time and most historians today credit these area bombing campaigns with ultimately shortening the war. By their demoralizing civilian impact, a wholesale (and costly) land invasion of Japan was averted.
In recent American military campaigns (both Gulf Wars, Afghanistan, and Kosovo), precision bombing has avoided massive civilian casualties and produced quick victories. However, confidence in the ease of these techniques only encourage more violence, not less, and over-reliance on them can potentially make costly mistakes more common.
In journalistic fashion, Gladwell originally produced this work for presentation as an audiobook. This format makes listening to the book far more interesting than expected. On top of that, the tale’s novelty entices. World War II has been exhaustively examined by historians, but through thorough investigation of US military records and access to Air Force leadership, Gladwell was able to unearth an untold story. Then he engages the public’s imagination to produce a winning feat. I can find no holes in his execution in telling this well-researched narrative. Kudos for this great presentation!
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LibraryThing member bookworm12
Gladwell is a must-read author for me. A book about World War II bomber planes wouldn’t necessarily grab my attention, but like all of his books, the topic delves far beyond the surface subject and explores the sociological implications of some critical inventions. I was completely enthralled the
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entire time. It was designed as an audiobook, so I highly recommend reading it and that format. Show Less
LibraryThing member Tatoosh
Malcolm Gladwell moves away from social psychology and his emphasis on social cognition in this analysis of the theories and associated methods that guided actions of the U. S. Army Air Corps in WW II.
Bomber Mafia is the misnomer applied to the group of officers who argued that the mass killing of
General Curtis LeMay expressed the opposing view that the humane approach to war was to strike as forcefully and ruthlessly as possible. Kill as many of the enemy as quickly as you can to force them to surrender. Although that sounds inhumane, LeMay argued his approach resulted in fewer deaths and injuries and less human suffering than a more prolonged war.
The development of the Norden bombsight was critical to the success of the Army Air Corps in achieving the Bomber Mafia’s goal. Unfortunately, the bombsight was not as effective as expected. Despite using thousands of bombers to drop tons of bombs, the war production of ball bearings was only minimally affected. In hindsight, it is apparent that the problem was not with the theory but with the current state of technology. The accuracy needed was not achievable at that time.
LeMay’s approach led to the massive firebombing of 67 Japanese cities, some of which had no strategically important industry.
I was not aware of the philosophical debate described in The Bomber Mafia, and it places the related military actions in WW II in a different light. Argument and angst have focused on using the atomic bomb, and LeMay’s contention that the massive killing of the enemy was the most humane approach is at the heart of this discussion. But the firebombing of cities by Germany and the Allies has been muted in comparison. However, it is worth noting that the United States and 114 other nations have signed a United Nations protocol outlawing the use of incendiary weapons.
The Bomber Mafia is well worth reading. Gladwell makes a few missteps—the effort to draw biblical comparisons, for example—but the brief account is a lively and informative read.
Bomber Mafia is the misnomer applied to the group of officers who argued that the mass killing of
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people in war is unnecessary and inefficient. The target should be strategic facilities, the loss of which would cripple the enemy’s ability to wage war. In Europe, destroying the ball-bearing plants clustered in Schweinfurt, Germany would halt the German war machine. They should target the Kawasaki aircraft manufacturing facility in Japan, which was critical to the Japanese ability to continue fighting.General Curtis LeMay expressed the opposing view that the humane approach to war was to strike as forcefully and ruthlessly as possible. Kill as many of the enemy as quickly as you can to force them to surrender. Although that sounds inhumane, LeMay argued his approach resulted in fewer deaths and injuries and less human suffering than a more prolonged war.
The development of the Norden bombsight was critical to the success of the Army Air Corps in achieving the Bomber Mafia’s goal. Unfortunately, the bombsight was not as effective as expected. Despite using thousands of bombers to drop tons of bombs, the war production of ball bearings was only minimally affected. In hindsight, it is apparent that the problem was not with the theory but with the current state of technology. The accuracy needed was not achievable at that time.
LeMay’s approach led to the massive firebombing of 67 Japanese cities, some of which had no strategically important industry.
I was not aware of the philosophical debate described in The Bomber Mafia, and it places the related military actions in WW II in a different light. Argument and angst have focused on using the atomic bomb, and LeMay’s contention that the massive killing of the enemy was the most humane approach is at the heart of this discussion. But the firebombing of cities by Germany and the Allies has been muted in comparison. However, it is worth noting that the United States and 114 other nations have signed a United Nations protocol outlawing the use of incendiary weapons.
The Bomber Mafia is well worth reading. Gladwell makes a few missteps—the effort to draw biblical comparisons, for example—but the brief account is a lively and informative read.
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LibraryThing member LynnB
I really like Malcolm Gladwell's books. This isn't his best, but as always, the writing is solid and it made me think about things I wasn't expecting to find in the book. This is a morality story about the most humanitarian way to wage war, and about who history labels as heroes.
When I went to
As a story of morality, the book works well. As a history, it falls short. It lacks context and I suspect it inflates the importance of LeMay and Hansell as individuals. There is an over-reliance on oral histories...which are valuable, but subject to the inevitable failures of memory and personal perspectives. And, there are no voices of the British forces or of the many people who were bombed.
Despite that, it is worth reading because it raises important moral issues and provides food for thought.
When I went to
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school, we were taught that the Allies were the "good guys" in WW2. Period. I knew nothing about the massive bombing and destruction in Japan other than the dropping of the two atomic bombs. I'm glad Mr. Gladwell has brought this story to light for me and other readers who may have been equally uninformed.As a story of morality, the book works well. As a history, it falls short. It lacks context and I suspect it inflates the importance of LeMay and Hansell as individuals. There is an over-reliance on oral histories...which are valuable, but subject to the inevitable failures of memory and personal perspectives. And, there are no voices of the British forces or of the many people who were bombed.
Despite that, it is worth reading because it raises important moral issues and provides food for thought.
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LibraryThing member gypsysmom
Another interesting exploration by Gladwell about the men involved in perfecting the accuracy of air bombing during World War II. Gladwell conceived this book as an audiobook although he has since published a paper version and I think it works quite well. I especially liked how Gladwell
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incorporated interviews with people throughout the book. Show Less
LibraryThing member alexbolding
Typical popular history by a ‘famous’ podcaster – big on sensation, thin on facts, contradictions and doubts that characterize real life and technological innovation. But don’t the captains of industry (readers of the financial times) love this kind of history? Clear heroes and villains,
The sub-title promises a kind of conceptual approach to technological innovation and war – Yet, what we get is a thin surrogate of a theory of change. Strategic change occurs as a result of stubborn, visionary, male super beings, whose ego’s occasionally clash, which can lead to some (temporary) confusion before the great wheel of history receives another swing from a brilliant alpha male in the right direction. Basically, the few facts that Gladwell uses to narrate the story of an American school of precision bombers, could equally be used to construe a recurrent story of failure, right till the present day of drone-driven assassinations. During all this time, the promise of precision bombing remained just that – a promise that was used to perpetrate the most morally despicable acts of mindless carpet bombing that was known to achieve the opposite of what it was meant to achieve (break the spirit of resistance? Duhh, the opposite!).
I would rather have known how it is possible that in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, such ineffectual bombing strategies stay in place (which mechanisms are responsible for this kind of morally doubtful wastage of lives on both ends). What Malcolm does well, is to write in short bursts and sentences, making use of personalized suspense to keep one reading. Chapot for that!
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decisive personalities that alter the course of history (something that rarely happens, except in the self-centered life world of CEOs and other over-rated alpha males), convenient, linear time lines and plenty of goal oriented behaviour (and outcomes! Nothing of the messy, fog-of-war type of reality). The sub-title promises a kind of conceptual approach to technological innovation and war – Yet, what we get is a thin surrogate of a theory of change. Strategic change occurs as a result of stubborn, visionary, male super beings, whose ego’s occasionally clash, which can lead to some (temporary) confusion before the great wheel of history receives another swing from a brilliant alpha male in the right direction. Basically, the few facts that Gladwell uses to narrate the story of an American school of precision bombers, could equally be used to construe a recurrent story of failure, right till the present day of drone-driven assassinations. During all this time, the promise of precision bombing remained just that – a promise that was used to perpetrate the most morally despicable acts of mindless carpet bombing that was known to achieve the opposite of what it was meant to achieve (break the spirit of resistance? Duhh, the opposite!).
I would rather have known how it is possible that in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, such ineffectual bombing strategies stay in place (which mechanisms are responsible for this kind of morally doubtful wastage of lives on both ends). What Malcolm does well, is to write in short bursts and sentences, making use of personalized suspense to keep one reading. Chapot for that!
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LibraryThing member novelcommentary
I enjoy Malcolm Gladwell's podcasts and while reading this fascinating history, his voice comes through with that familiar intelligent tone. The Bomber Mafia depicts a group of men who at one time believed that precision bombing was going to be the effective, humane way to win WWII. First was
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Norden attempting to build the bombsite equipment to enable precision bombing, then Hansen believing it would work on the German Ball bearing factory. These ideals however were failures and it took Curtis Lamay and the invention of the B29 bomber, along with the capture of the maranda islands, to enable the mass incendiary bombing of multiple Tokyo cities with napalm. There is some legitimate criticism in regards to the portrait of Lamay. Was his plan solely to help the war end faster and save lives? Or was the intention more of the "bomb them into the Stone Age " quote that he supposedly said about Vietnam. I certainly learned a lot reading this and recommend it. Show Less
LibraryThing member gbnarang
Macolm Gladwell has been one of my favorite writers and I've loved his unique style of bringing out unique insights into human behavior that are research-backed with analysis. But this book is so different yet insightful. This story of 2 personalities operated with varied ideals during the WWII
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brings out a lesson for each of us on the approach to tackle situations. One followed the easier path of larger-scale destruction due to the inability to operationalise precision bombing given the limitations of the times & geography being operating over - the eventual win brought him material glory & success. The other one though took up the more difficult path of not giving into the easier methods, sticking to his precision bombing principles to not attack civilians, losing out his post due to the challenges of the times & geography and yet being hallowed for the uncompromising adherence to his values even during war times. Whilst the narrative builds towards this overall variation of personalities, the story weaves amazing facts about the practical challenges of the WWII with the limited technological advancements of the times that we now take for granted. Well-said story with a great moral outcome! Show Less
Awards
ISBN
0316296619 / 9780316296618
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