The Bomber Mafia : : a Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War

Locations
Call Number: 940.544 Gl, Adult Book / Nonfiction / History / World War II / Gladwell, Malcolm
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Pittsfield Branch, Westgate Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	940.544 Gl	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	940.544 Gl	4-week checkout	Due 05-02-2024
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	940.544 Gl	4-week checkout	Due 05-23-2024
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / History / World War II / Gladwell, Malcolm	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / History / World War II / Gladwell, Malcolm	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / History / World War II / Gladwell, Malcolm	4-week checkout	Due 05-08-2024

Introduction: "This isn't working. You're out." -- Part one: The dream. "Mr. Norden was content to pass his time in the shop." ; "We make progress unhindered by custom." ; "He was lacking in the bond of human sympathy." ; "The truest of the true believers." ; "General Hansell was aghast" -- Part two: The temptation. "It would be suicide, boys, suicide." ; "If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." ; "It's all ashes--all that and that and that." ; "Improvised destruction." -- Conclusion: "All of a sudden the Air House would be gone. Poof."
"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." -- Provided by publisher.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

An absolute "Must Read" submitted by GJBarnett2 on June 26, 2021, 4:25pm ... for anyone interested in Air Power, WWII or military history generally. 206 pages and I read it cover-to-cover in one sitting. Brings new light to the entire concept of air power and its evolution over the last century, particularly the theoretical and moral (yes, Moral!) clash between British Nighttime Area Bombing and American Daylight Precision Bombing and the American adoption of essentially the British plan under Curtis LeMay in the Pacific in 1945. Makes a strong case that the nighttime area bombing of Japanese cities with napalm would have ended the War without the use of the A-bomb and why Japan later gave LeMay its highest civilian award. Also addresses the re-emergence of Daylight Precision Bombing due to the development of "smart bombs. I may never have rated a book 5 Stars but this one certainly deserves it!

Very interesting but better as an audiobook submitted by kubiakm on July 10, 2022, 4:57pm I was very much looking forward to reading this, but after finishing it and learning at the end that it was originally an audiobook, that made a lot of sense to me, because I found the structure/ordering of the chapters a bit confusing and also a bit repetitive. Definitely worth a listen or read though as in typical Gladwell fashion, it brings the characters to life and presents an interesting argument!

Pretty good book submitted by dave_472 on June 23, 2023, 3:20pm This was a pretty good book, my father recommended it to me and I enjoyed it!