This page is not available in other languages. The war ended some 76 years ago. His interview with Fareed Zakaria was interesting, spanning everything from auto-pilot vehicles to U.S. university rankings to a critique of The Little Mermaid (which, thankfully, I have never seen). In his first book since his #1 bestseller David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell has written a gripping guidebook for troubled times. The bomber mafia succeeded in their goal to have extensive bomber fleets in the US military, but they failed in their wish to achieve pinpoint targeting precision during World War II. This notion that killing someones family and friends will lead them to surrender is bunk, all it does is motivate people to hate you forever And the Japanese Government of the post war era was a puppet of our military, the notion that a proud people would hail a man who rained fiery death indiscriminately from the sky because they figured maybe less died this way is specious drivel in my opinion. McFarland, Stephen L.; Richard P. Hallion (2008). As long as youre comfortable with the numbers of people who were killed during the air attacks described throughout the book. It does give you a. You can listen in your preferred podcast app (See below for a complete list of supported apps). This book once more casts an extra critical eye on this situation and outcome. Sort: Relevance. So, he asserts, Curtis LeMay won the battle. 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. Very interesting. ASIN: B08V1N49ZN Edition language: English . This was all in one plane. [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. He is also the co-founder of Pushkin Industries, an audio content company that produces the podcasts Revisionist History, which reconsiders things both overlooked and misunderstood, and Broken Record, where he, Rick Rubin, and Bruce Headlam interview musicians across a wide range of genres. Wondering if someone out there has both listened to the podcast and read this book? The print has its merits of being able to take your time to know the history of . Do you prefer this format. Tap the link to open your audiobook purchase in your podcast app. Everyone, generals included, hated the mass . and Terms of Use, 2023 Hachette Book Group | Terms of Use | [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. or ask your favorite author a question with The calculation is based on fuel vs weight vs resistance so tailwind wins. Listen to audiobooks in the same place you spend hours listening to your favorite podcasts. The Bombing plane mafia under Hansell are bent on reduce the destruction as well as focused on throwing a spanner in the works of battle. Malcolm Gladwell and "The Bomber Mafia". Bomber Mafia Questions 2,700,000+ results. When he is introducing characters and showing them in conflict, The Bomber Mafia is gripping. The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War. WATCH SEGMENT. They believed that bombing strategic targets made sense, and bombing population centers didnt. If youre an audiobook listener, thats the version to choose. Fortunately for LeMay, there was another new technology on the horizon. Your seamless listening experience is powered by Supporting Cast. 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. The biggest runs against a strategic target, specifically a ball bearing factory, largely was a failure. These four instructors, the core of US bomber advocacy, argued that an enemy's army and navy could be defeated intact due to the destruction of industrial and military targets deep within enemy-held territory. On both sides. As a work of history, it borders on reckless". The new discount program will be accessed through the exchange stores or websites, not Home Depot locations. As a key member of the Bomber Mafia, Hansells theories of precision bombing had been foiled by bad weather and human error. We have updated our Privacy Policy But a small band of idealistic strategists had a different view. Its proponents continued to promote the doctrine into the Atomic Age, forming the Strategic Air Command to carry out a vision modified to fit the needs of the Cold War and the threat of nuclear warfare. Following numerous casualties from ground warfare in World war, a group people army males focused on producing a bombing system that would certainly be so exact that it could get really specific targets that would cripple enemies while decreasing human loss. A sixth hit the number 3 engine, setting it on fire. Much of the book concerns the technical and practical aspect. One historian tells the author that Hansell was not the kind of man who was willing to kill hundreds of thousands of people. Much of Japanese housing was wood, paper, with straw mats. Malcolm Gladwell The Bomber Mafia Audiobook Online. Because even though his bombing caused more than 500,000 Japanese citizens to lose their lives, it prevented a land invasion which undoubtedly would have cost many more deaths than that. Members of the "Bomber Mafia" produced the two airpower war plans (AWPD-1 and AWPD-42) that guided the wartime expansion and deployment of the Army Air Forces. ", He released a couple chapters from this book as episodes of Revisionist History. Note from the author Malcolm Gladwell, author . 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. Block buster films have actually made World War II seem even more actual and technically skilled in all things armed forces yet this book was needed for me to grasp the relevance of war in the 1940s. [] Hansell won the war". 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). Malcolm Gladwell on the Hard Decisions of War, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/25/books/review/the-bomber-mafia-malcolm-gladwell.html. All rights reserved. They had and have no oil or other energy natural resources, their cities and industries would have suffered greatly. Randall Jarrell captured LeMays blithely brutal approach in two of the most memorable lines of 20th-century American poetry: In bombers named for girls, we burned / The cities we had learned about in school.. We are excited to provide you an exclusive Listener's Guide that offers an inside look at the production process, archival imagery, and commentary from Malcolm and the producers and engineers involved with this extraordinary project. In The Bombing plane Mafia, he hones in on a specific period of history. WATCH SEGMENT. I went back and read The Bomber Mafia a second time. Those large conclusions seemed unsubstantiated to me. Here is Gladwells stunning description of a United States Air Force B-17 bomber being cut up on a run over Germany: One 20-millimeter cannon shell penetrated the right side of the airplane and exploded beneath the pilot, cutting one of the gunners in the leg. Gladwell is a wonderful storyteller. Malcom Gladwells book Talking to Strangers is a very good book that ties together In the first chapter, Gladwell introduces Carl Norden, inventor of the Norden bombsight, the first sight that allowed bombs to accurately hit their target. Ive read most of Gladwells books, but he always finds something new to tackle from a different angle. Welcome back. Or the soldier in a minefield whose buddy is bleeding to death? Thank you for purchasing The Bomber Mafia, an audiobook by Malcolm Gladwell. For customer support, contact help@supportingcast.fm. Emphasizes just how technical breakthroughs are typically made use of in means they were not indicated. The object of war is to destroy the enemy which LeMay understood very well, their morale had nothing to do with it, and ultimately saved millions of lives on both sides due to a invasion not having to happen. Gladwell begins the story in the Introduction in January 1945, on the Mariana Islands. Malcolm Gladwell has in his hands a very good story in The Bomber Mafia. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. The system was then implemented in The second world war to varying outcomes. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the terms of our updated Privacy Policy. 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. NOW PLAYING. Please simply click here to enter your email address (no additional purchase required) and you will receive the Listeners Guide. The notion that we were ever going to tolerate a land invasion of Japan is simply not true, we could have cut them off and let their cities crumble. First, the U.S. command didnt really seem to understand what LeMays campaign was doing to Japan. Failure to see this issue through proved one of the Air Corps Tactical School's major shortcomings.[18]. The kind of indiscriminate destruction that LeMay used to win the war is absolutely a thing of the past, at least for American forces. The book is adapted from a series of podcasts Gladwell created for his show Revisionist History. The nascent, emerging and the ambitious force that . >> and with one of our favorite guest. To most people, a city park is a grace note, a green space that makes urban life more livable. Anyone can read what you share. [7] This could lead to a minimum of war-time casualties with new technology such as the Norden bombsight. ", "Warden and the Air Corps Tactical School", "Malcolm Gladwell's Fantasy of War From the Air", "Malcolm Gladwell's The Bomber Mafia is misleading history-lite", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bomber_Mafia&oldid=1093347884, 1960s disestablishments in the United States, Organizations disestablished in the 1960s, 20th-century history of the United States Air Force, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. Chapter-by-chapter summaries and multiple sections of expert analysis, The ultimate resource for assignments, engaging lessons, and lively book discussions. 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. You will be emailed a confirmation with the link to the audiobook or you can login with your email addresshere. Bomber Mafia Daylight precision-bombing advocates Carl A. Spaatz, Muir S. Fairchild and Donald M. Wilson at Maxwell Air Force Base in 1946 The Bomber Mafia were a close-knit group of American military men who believed that long-range heavy bomber aircraft in large numbers were able to win a war. Fans of Revisionist History will recognize some of the characters from the last season of the podcast, but The Bomber Mafia expands on these episodes and includes new original interviews, archival footage, and a fresh analysis of one of the most important events in military history. While one is a celebrated hero, the other was an idealist whose concepts allowed him to be sidelined in the annals of background. The print has its merits of being able to take your time to know the history of the "bomber mafia." General Haywood Hansell is being relieved from overseeing the 21st Bomber Command, to be replaced by General Curtis LeMay. Why? The podcast is called Revisionist History, and is excellent by the way. [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. Two questions have students connect the material to today. There are a lot of moral dilemmas to chew on here. It certainly is arguable that others, like Gen. George C. Marshall, were just as important, but Gladwell simply tosses out the claim about Stimson and hurries on. Before they started invading China and Southeast Asia, Japan got most of its oil from the United States, which they knew was going to end when we realized what was going on. The Bomber Mafia were a close-knit group of American military men who believed that long-range heavy bomber aircraft in large numbers were able to win a war. Your email address will not be published. [11] The book examines Hansell's replacement by Major General Curtis LeMay,[12] who implemented a series of tactical changes such as ordering bombing at a dramatically lower altitude to avoid the jet stream, removal of most of the bombers' defensive weaponry to increase bomb payload and wholesale nighttime fire bombing with incendiaries like napalm to devastate many of the population centers of Japan. Restricted in scope, short in play time, I located this believed prompting. 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. I did know that the British bombed during the night while the Americans seemed to have the much more hazardous daytime raids over Germany. And then they did the same thing to another city. Following numerous casualties from ground warfare in World war, a group people army males focused on producing a bombing system that would certainly be so . Kurt Vonneguts seminal publication Slaughterhouse five took the allied battle (pointless) of Dresden with the POV of Prisioners of war. The Listeners Guide is only available from Pushkin Industries when you buy The Bomber Mafia. They failed. As listeners hear these stories unfurl, Gladwell examines one of the greatest moral challenges in modern American history. Unanswered Questions (2) Because of a review from one of the Goodread friends, I decided to take on the audiobook, instead of the print/e-book version. They believed that war could thus be waged more humanely because collateral damage, including civilian deaths, could be minimized and wars ended faster. Why were the North Vietnamese such a powerful force, because they were colonized for generations and their cities were being carpet bombed by B52s from 40,000, if you kill someones family you should prepare to face their relatives. The audiobook brings to life the stories. Senora Panqueque's Classroom. [5][6], The book follows the story of the Bomber Mafia, a group of American military officers, especially Major General Haywood S. Hansell, as they developed a military doctrine of daylight strategic bombing as a means to defeat an enemy with precision high-altitude aerial bombardment. This is an account of a team of elderly minds in the USA airforce who ended up being focused on accuracy battle to decrease innocent noncombatant casualties and also quicken completion of problem by strategically bombing factories and also battle production vital for your enemys ability to continue to combat on. How did Fidel Castro fool the CIA for a generation? [3], This theory was first espoused by Italian General Giulio Douhet, though his ideas included the terror bombing of population centers that the American theorists eschewed. Contact Us | 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. [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. son. [4] He devoted four episodes of the fifth season of Revisionist History to air power in World War II, and stated the audiobook served as an expansion of material from the podcast. His thinking was that it would be better to force the enemy to surrender early, as a prolonged war would cause more suffering. By dropping bombs with precision onto strategic targets, Hansell believed wars could be won faster and with far less . 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. Actually, LeMays B-29s firebombed 67 different Japanese cities with far more lives lost than the atomic bombs. Japan was largely self-sufficient as far as food is concerned, they would have become uncomfortable but they would not have starved to death. Ask the Author. [8], Although flawed and tested only under optimal conditions, the doctrine (originally known as the "industrial web theory")[9] became the primary airpower strategy of the United States in the planning for World War II. Andrews staffed the command with like-minded officers such as Henry H. "Hap" Arnold. This is history brought to life through the power of audio. After you enter your email address, youll get a unique link. LeMay believed that the campaign was so effective that the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 werent even necessary, because his campaign already had made clear the price if Japan declined to surrender. If LeMay firebombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the loss of life would have been similar as to what the atomic bombs caused without the radiation. In the Pacific, they had better planes to go against Japan. The second is that Japanese politicians and historians actually thanked LeMay for the campaign after the war. I seriously doubt Russias entry into the war was a factor. It is indeed a conversational work, almost garrulous at times, as when he reports that one psychologist has a heartbreaking riff about what one member of a couple will often say when the other one dies that some part of him or her has died along with the partner. However, this chatty style also glides over some important historical questions. And interesting. The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War is a 2021 book by Malcolm Gladwell that examines the US Bomber Mafia of World War II, which advocated precision aerial bombing as a means to win a war. Hes more of an intellectual explorer than a disciplined academic. His latest book, The Bomber Mafia, deals primarily with the philosophies of bombing during World War II, and has not become a best seller at least not yet. This page was last edited on 16 June 2022, at 01:38. It does give you a sense of the futility of war and leaves you feeling like there must be a better way, which is a good message for a 13 yo. Guide because backdrop is a story of optimism. Another example: Gladwell calls the firebombing of Tokyo on March 9 and 10, 1945, the longest night of the war. This unfortunate phrase, this unproven superlative, is repeated in the books unwieldy subtitle. in History Nonfiction June 10, 2021, Malcolm Gladwell The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War Audiobook. Much of the book concerns the technical and practical aspects of the Norden bombsight, in a 'grown-ups arguing' sort of way. Chapter 8 resumes the narrative of the bombing campaign against Japan from the Marianas. [2] The Bomber Mafia was gradually replaced in the 1950s and 1960s by advocates of intercontinental ballistic missile warfare. by . 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. [23], Writing for The Baffler, Noah Kulwin criticized the book as "an attempt to retcon the history of American aerial warfare by arguing that developing the capacity to explode anything, anywhere in the world has made America and, indeed, the rest of the globe, unequivocally safer" and stated "by taking up military history, Gladwell's half-witted didacticism threatens to convince millions of people that the only solution to American butchery is to continue shelling out for sharper and larger knives. Those are exactly the same, but there's a lot more to the book. Gladwell has been included in the TIME 100 Most Influential People list and touted as one of Foreign Policys Top Global Thinkers. After the war, LeMay was given a high medal by the Japanese government. The problem here was there above Japan there was a 140 mph (125 knot) jet stream, which played havoc with the bomb sight and precision bombing. To bombing experts, parks are nettlesome firebreaks that interfere with a target citys combustibility. For the first few years, the strongest voice at ACTS against the bomber doctrine was Captain (later General) George C. Kenney who called for the use of air power to attack enemy fighting units on the ground. In one day in March, 1945, more than 400 B-29s totally burned 16 square miles of Tokyo killing far more than 100,000 people. They intended the mission to be against military and industrial targets, not populations. 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. Youll hear the voices of generals, the sound of aircrafts and bombs crashing. The logistics of sending thousands of men, tanks, artillery and supplies from the western side of Russia to the eastern Pacific side would have been virtually impossible. We won the war when we did because our aircraft carriers were luckily out of Pearl Harbor when it was invaded, we were never going to lose but our task would have become daunting if we had to re-build our aircraft carrier fleet in my opinion Germany invaded Russia for its oil, oil was and is the commodity needed for modern militaries, Your email address will not be published. Purchase The Bomber Mafia and receive the exclusive Bomber Mafia Listeners Guide a visual document of the making of The Bomber Mafia. Was Henry Stimson, Franklin Roosevelts secretary of war, truly responsible, more than anyone, for the extraordinary war machine that the United States built in the early years of the Second World War? Moreover, the men realized that the United States government would have to reduce funding to naval and ground forces in order to establish a great air fleet. The audiobook is an experience in itself, complete with sound results, music, and old interviews from the men he profiles (and also several of their battles survivors). [2] Fleets of heavy bombers were not able to achieve victory without the cooperation of the Army and Navy, and required the protection of long-range fighters for deep penetration missions. I didn't know he had a podcast on this topic, but after listening to the book my immediate thought was "Why did I pay for this book? The book description sounds exactly like the podcast. So it is probably too early, far too early, to believe that wide-area, city-destroying attacks that kill large numbers of civilians have become a horror only of the past. The State of Journalism on World Press Freedom Day. The next chapter details the pilots at the Air Corps Tactical School in Alabama who were known as the Bomber Mafia. There is even a score and plenty of effective sound effects. Malcolm Gladwell had a podcast on this topic last year. Later, Saville successfully implemented his ideas in the Mediterranean Theater. Almost 100 B-24 planes were lost with only minimal damage done to the ball bearing plant. Visit gladwellbooks.com for moreinformation. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. With thousands of Veterans Day military discounts to choose from, how do you find the best ones? Subscribe to the Military.com newsletter to have military news, updates and resources delivered straight to your inbox. In The Bombing plane Mafia, he hones in on a specific period of history. Precision-guided munitions are hugely expensive, and the stockpiles of them are surprisingly small. Just how wrong was I, however in a blink of an eye I had a book I could not take down. Two new bomber groups were formed in the Pacific: LeMay headed one in India and Hansell led another in the Marianas. But I dont think the ghost of LeMay can be put to rest so easily. 1. The imposter foods ought to additionally be moved up on the bomb listing. The annals of WW-II is loaded with cities razed to ground across all countries (though advertised, thanks to prominent media/winning side account, just the Allied cities). And then another. Take capers these are certainly not peas. A third option is rarely discussed. Those are exactly the same, but there's a lot more to the book. Those fools can really do some damages if you capture one in the kisser. 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. Malcolm Gladwell's extraordinary new book, "The Bomber Mafia," tells the story of a group of pilots who met on a muggy airbase in central Alabama and hatched a plan to revolutionize warfare. a lot of current racial issues facing our country. Just that, with bombing plane B29s the issue is definitely a lot more intricate with visibility, weather and anti-aircraft weapons to battle with. They believed that bombing strategic targets made sense, and bombing population centers didn't. USAAC Fighter Projects officer Lieutenant Benjamin S. Kelsey appreciated that a large bomber fleet would be able to perform many military tasks, not just strategic bombing, and felt that the force's doctrine should remain flexible to meet any demand.