Subscribe to the Military.com newsletter to have military news, updates and resources delivered straight to your inbox. They failed. The book is adapted from a series of podcasts Gladwell created for his show . Malcolm Gladwell's new book and audiobook "The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation and the Longest Night of the Second World War" digs deep into one of the lesser-known rivalries of the war,. 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. Visit gladwellbooks.com for moreinformation. Captain Claire Lee Chennault, senior instructor in fighter tactics at ACTS, was a vocal Air Corps officer who challenged the bomber mafia for more than a decade; he was forced into early retirement in 1937, leaving the precision bombing advocates unopposed. Gladwell argues that LeMays savage firebombing campaign succeeded, and that, combined with the two atomic bombs that followed, shortened the war. I am a big fan of Malcolm Gladwell. . The US Bomber Mafia agreed with Baldwin only in that the bomber would prevail in its mission. Tap the link to open your audiobook purchase in your podcast app. Kenney left ACTS in 1929, and heavy bomber doctrinarians filled the vacancy. Chapter 8 resumes the narrative of the bombing campaign against Japan from the Marianas. This ferocious approach may have helped end the war, but there is no question that it was horrible. Contact Us | 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. Relevance; Rating; Price (Ascending) Most Recent; View: Filter. 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). It's pretty much about the history of how the military went from ground wars to air wars and theoretically . Why did Neville Chamberlain think he could trust Adolf Hitler? If youre an audiobook listener, thats the version to choose. 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. It's true: The audiobook breaks conventional audiobook standards, as this is a well-produced audio experience. Precision-guided munitions are hugely expensive, and the stockpiles of them are surprisingly small. The new discount program will be accessed through the exchange stores or websites, not Home Depot locations. [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. McFarland, Stephen L.; Richard P. Hallion (2008). I would have been bored with this when I was 11--likely he would be, too. By stream What of the infinitely long nights of millions of concentration camp prisoners? 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. Actually, LeMays B-29s firebombed 67 different Japanese cities with far more lives lost than the atomic bombs. 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. What about the sailor whose ship is torpedoed and who hangs from debris in the water with no chance of rescue? I did know that the British bombed during the night while the Americans seemed to have the much more hazardous daytime raids over Germany. the moral challenges of modern american history. As a key member of the Bomber Mafia, Hansells theories of precision bombing had been foiled by bad weather and human error. The imposter foods ought to additionally be moved up on the bomb listing. [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. 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? Haywood Hansell won the war. The evidence for this, of course, is the ability of todays stealthy radar-evading bombers to drop ordnance from great heights and have them guided to precise points on a given target say, a hardened aircraft hangar or an enemy intelligence agencys power system. 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. 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.. [10] This especially applied with the aerial bombardment of Japan where previously unaccounted atmospheric conditions such as the jet stream seriously interfered with operations under Hansell's command. What could be more American than the story of LeMay, a gruff, cigar-chewing Ohioan who made his way through the state university by working night shifts at a foundry? Perhaps bombing debate this is old hat to many of my readers. Yet the issue the Bombing plane Mafia was attempting to fix has both physics as well as moral angles. Or the soldier in a minefield whose buddy is bleeding to death? 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. 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. (For the Japanese the atom bomb was just a more effective way to bomb them, some watching they were used to.) Privacy Policy | 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. One of Gladwells skills is enabling us to see the world through the eyes of his subjects. For those of us who had family waiting to invade, whatever the reason(s), it was very welcome. 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. In the first chapter, Gladwell introduces Carl Norden, inventor of the Norden bombsight, the first sight that allowed bombs to accurately hit their target. Curtis LeMays approach brought everyone Americans and Japanese back to peace and prosperity as quickly as possible, he writes. Por Vs. Para Mafia Game. [14] Because of his lower rank, he was in no position to challenge the bomber mafia, and instead strove to work around their restrictions on pursuit aircraft. The kind of indiscriminate destruction that LeMay used to win the war is absolutely a thing of the past, at least for American forces. This is a preview of the digital audiobook of The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell, available on Libro.fm at https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9781735803227?cmp=li. Two new bomber groups were formed in the Pacific: LeMay headed one in India and Hansell led another in the Marianas. [17] In The Wall Street Journal, Yale professor Paul Kennedy praised the audiobook version of The Bomber Mafia as "remarkable" and a "work of art"; similarly, in The Times, reviewer Gerard DeGroot said "The Bomber Mafia remind[ed] [him] of a really good podcast a fascinating story is appealingly delivered", and historian Diana Preston of The Washington Post called the audiobook "innovative" for its inclusion of archival clips, music, and sound effects. The Listeners Guide features additional commentary from Malcolm Gladwell, reflections on the production from producers and engineers, and archival photos from the period. InThe Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War, Malcolm Gladwell, author ofNew York Timesbestsellers includingTalking to Strangersand host of the podcastRevisionist History, uses original interviews, archival footage and his trademark insight to weave 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. The unexpected hero of Gladwells story is Curtis LeMay yes, that one, the general who firebombed Tokyo and dozens of other Japanese cities and then, decades later, supposedly advocated bombing the Vietnamese back into the Stone Age. Why are campus sexual assaults on the rise? They also complete an image analysis section and create two propaganda posters from different . In Gladwells account, Hansells relatively more humane approach didnt work. Just that, with bombing plane B29s the issue is definitely a lot more intricate with visibility, weather and anti-aircraft weapons to battle with. There is nothing 'inappropriate' in the book, it is simply not about battles and actions. He released a couple chapters from this book as episodes of Revisionist History. Unfortunately for its believers, the Norden bombsight was a brilliant idea that didnt quite work in practice, mostly because the technology did not yet exist to do the additional computations that real-world issues required to move beyond the theoretical ones that worked so well in the lab. [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. 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. The airmen believed that the tool would allow forces to focus on taking out specific targets that could cripple the enemys production lines rather than engaging in the kind of indiscriminate bombing that the Germans did on London and the Allied forces would against Dresden. [7] This could lead to a minimum of war-time casualties with new technology such as the Norden bombsight. With thousands of Veterans Day military discounts to choose from, how do you find the best ones? Bomber Mafia is story of efficiency, morality and technology. Hansell was a junior member of the Bomber Mafia, a group that put its faith in the new Norden precision bombsight. [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. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Many of my academic friends have warned me to take his conclusions with at least a few grains of salt. [1], The term "Bomber Mafia" came from the sometimes bitter debates between United States Army staff and Air Corps men who observed, and argued with, the insistence by instructors and students of the ACTS that heavy bombers were the new primary weapon of war, and that a separate air arm was required to command them. This book is so much extra; not just filling up a few spaces in my understanding but educating me, simply exactly how little I understood about the altering role of the airforce. In spite of the horrifying damage inflicted by napalm bombs, many Japanese believed theyre what caused the government to surrender. The calculation is based on fuel vs weight vs resistance so tailwind wins. Departing from his usual path, New York Times bestselling writer Malcolm Gladwell addresses a still heated historical debate: Was Allied carpet bombing during World War II reasonable or criminal? Wondering if someone out there has both listened to the podcast and read this book? 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. 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. Kennedy stated there were "gaps in [Gladwell's] account", and cites the RAF Bomber Command's attempt at careful bombing as an example. 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). Those fools can really do some damages if you capture one in the kisser. [1] The bomber mafia's strategic doctrine, changed by war and experience, helped shape the mission of the new Air Force and its Strategic Air Command.[2]. Things might have gone differently had LeMays predecessor, General Haywood Hansell, remained in charge. The book follows the Bomber Mafia, especially Major General Haywood S. Hansell, and the development of a high-altitude precision aerial bombardment strategy in World War II as a means to limit casualties. He flew in at 5,000 feet elevation, which was under the jet stream, and under the altitude at which Japanese antiaircraft weapons were effective. Yes, it would have caused millions to starve and die but the invasion alternative would have caused millions of allied lives. A third option is rarely discussed. Much of Japanese housing was wood, paper, with straw mats. These pilots dreamed of more humane ways to conduct wars. 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. Malcolm Gladwell has in his hands a very good story in The Bomber Mafia. And was engrossed once again. 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. Show Description. In the end, the book's central flaw resides at the core of Gladwell's supposed greatest strength. Chapter 3 is about the British and American bombing campaign against Germany in 1943. The State of Journalism on World Press Freedom Day. Yup, thats right! Bombing of Tokyo on March 10, 1945 with Operation Meetinghouse, "You Know Your History? Agreed? Rather than focus on industrial or military targets, the napalm bombs spewed all over cities, destroying housing and killing civilians in a most devastating way. 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. And also yet, this publication is something that maintains you invested as it exists as a little bit more than an item of history. This guide is based on the hardcover first edition. War stories are a brand-new category for those utilized to Macolm Gladwells distinct brand of nonfiction. Kurt Vonneguts seminal publication Slaughterhouse five took the allied battle (pointless) of Dresden with the POV of Prisioners of war. This is history brought to life through the power of audio. The system was then implemented in The second world war to varying outcomes. The nascent, emerging and the ambitious force that . 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. 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. Developed over the years 19261929 at Air Corps Tactical School (ACTS) at Langley Field in Virginia, a forward-looking doctrine of daylight precision bombing was promulgated by Brigadier General William "Billy" Mitchell who advocated a greatly expanded role for the bomber force. Please check back soon for future events. Bomber Mafia Questions 2,700,000+ results. Is this book appropriate for an 11-year old that reads a lot WW II history and fiction books? We could have surrounded their ports, mined their harbors, Japan has no energy natural resources, that is why they invaded Maylaysia and the Borneo oil fields. The brief Conclusion looks at the bigger picture this story tells about the use of technology. It's true: The audiobook breaks conventional audiobook standards, as this is a well-produced audio experience. Starting in 2022, Starbucks is expanding its Veterans Day freebie to include an additional product: iced coffee. Chapter 7 provides some background regarding the development at Harvard University of napalm, an incendiary substance that could be used in bombs to create an intense firestorm. Its a history of the dueling philosophies regarding bombing that existed in the US military during World War II. And then another. The podcast is called Revisionist History, and is excellent by the way. A second shell hit the radio compartment, cutting the legs of the radio operator off at the knees. [19] Publishers Weekly stated "this history feels more tossed off than fully fledged", though Gladwell "provide[d] plenty of colorful details and pose[d] intriguing questions about the morality of warfare". [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]. To bombing experts, parks are nettlesome firebreaks that interfere with a target citys combustibility. Gladwell stated the audiobook for The Bomber Mafia came about as an expansion of material from his podcast Revisionist History, and that the print book originated from the audiobook. Guide begins with a very genuine trouble. What would happen with bombing in a really big war remains to be seen. [15] At the time the book was released, a modern B-2 Stealth Bomber could approach a target without being detected on radar from 40,000 feet in altitude. 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. Much of the book concerns the technical and practical aspect. Didnt have it in his soul. After a few months in command of the B-29 raids on Japan, Hansell was dismissed and replaced by LeMay, who was told to come up with a new plan. Gladwell has been included in the TIME 100 Most Influential People list and touted as one of Foreign Policys Top Global Thinkers. LeMay would have no place in a modern air force, his outdated and shallow, callous theories are now considered war crimes, we will never do it again, and we will never sit back and watch it happen somewhere else. [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. As for Vietnam, Johnson and Mcnamara screwed that up by NOT applying LeMay principals and the war should have been ended in 1965 , again saving many lives. [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. With battles airborne having the power to win you the battle, can we do accuracy battle to help reduce the casualties of war? Purchase The Bomber Mafia and receive the exclusive Bomber Mafia Listeners Guide a visual document of the making of The Bomber Mafia. Anyone can read what you share. WATCH SEGMENT. The Listeners Guide features additional commentary from, Suggestions, Fan Mail, Bones to Pick, and All Other Queries, For Speaking Engagements With Malcolm Gladwell, Hasta la Vista, America: Trumps Farewell Address, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. This was a ripoff, 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? Your seamless listening experience is powered by Supporting Cast. The most compelling account is the clash of ideas and the practical options sought to fight on a distant enemy. The British strategy was known as area bombing, which amounted to creating as much damage as possible over a wide area. There are actual recordings of interviews conducted by Gladwell and also taken from documentaries filmed or recorded in the decades since the war. Why must they act like peas? Curtis LeMay (with pipe) discusses plans for bombing Tokyo. 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 Bomber Mafia asked: What if precision bombing could, just by taking out critical choke points industrial or transportation hubs cripple the enemyandmake war far less lethal? He was and is wrong, killing the elderly, women, and children is not an object of war, its evil and destructive. Had the war gone on longer, into the winter of 1945-46, he suggests, millions of Japanese could have died of starvation. Purchase the audiobook by using the form on an audiobook page. In the Pacific, they had better planes to go against Japan. dan is the author of six books about business and human behavior including "the new york times" bestseller he is a great friend and we cannot wait to host him and his upcoming book. Please simply click here to enter your email address (no additional purchase required) and you will receive the Listeners Guide. Take capers these are certainly not peas. [23], A reviewer in Kirkus Reviews stated Gladwell "[delivered] a fairly flattering portrait of LeMay". 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. The book description sounds exactly like the podcast. This exclusive Listener's Guide gives you an inside look at the production process, archival imagery and commentary from Malcolm and the producers and engineers involved with this extraordinary project. The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War Buy on Bookshop Little Brown and Company, 256 pp., $27.00 The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the. there is a link to purchase . Ask the Author. Chapter-by-chapter summaries and multiple sections of expert analysis, The ultimate resource for assignments, engaging lessons, and lively book discussions. [13], Other opposition was more subtle. [1] Hansell concurred that both the theorists and the authors of the AWPD-1 war plan (of which he was both) made a serious mistake in neglecting long-range fighter escort in their ideas. Guide because backdrop is a story of optimism. The rest of the book focuses on the Pacific Theater during the last two years of the war. They believed that war could thus be waged more humanely because collateral damage, including civilian deaths, could be minimized and wars ended faster. By dropping bombs with precision onto strategic targets, Hansell believed wars could be won faster and with far less . After the undeniable horrors of the Great War, a group of Army Air Corps generals spent much of the 1930s brainstorming ways to use airpower to make war bombing more strategic while keeping casualties to a minimum. But I dont think the ghost of LeMay can be put to rest so easily. They had and have no oil or other energy natural resources, their cities and industries would have suffered greatly. This was a stunning yet enjoyable audio books, one I most likely wouldnt have actually gotten if it wasnt composed by Gladwell. Hansell was not the moral opposite of LeMay. Two questions have students connect the material to today. In his first book since his #1 bestseller David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell has written a gripping guidebook for troubled times. Whether you're looking for news and entertainment, thinking of joining the military or keeping up with military life and benefits, Military.com has you covered. The print has its merits of being able to take your time to know the history of . That Japanese cities were bombed beyond those I found out about, in a fashion I rarely want to picture. Everyone, generals included, hated the mass . You will be emailed a confirmation with the link to the audiobook or you can login with your email addresshere. Gladwell describes the challenges that both faced. 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. [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. The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War. The audiobook brings to life the stories. 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. If you enjoyed those episodes, I think you'll like the full book. In The Bombing plane Mafia, he hones in on a specific period of 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. People growing up on animations and motion pictures see planes going down bombs/shooting targets as if done through cross hairs. WATCH SEGMENT . Copyright 2023 Free Audiobooks. There is even a score and plenty of effective sound effects. We have updated our Privacy Policy A third hit the bombardier in the head and shoulder. Can the less humane way actually save more lives in the long run. Napalm is a gel that when it explodes, blows large clumps of fiery hot substance that sticks to every substance and burns brightly for several minutes. Those are exactly the same, but there's a lot more to the book. Key ideas from The Bomber Mafia. Once you are in a way, are some forms of bombing more humane than others? [27] Ricks calls LeMay an "unexpected hero" of the story,[22] while McConnachie cites Hansell as Gladwell's hero. [4][5] In contrast, American theorists devised a strategy of pin-point bombing that targeted the enemy economy and the production of weapons. [10] The doctrine also ran counter to the theories of Billy Mitchell himself, who espoused that pursuit support was essential for daylight bombing operations.[11]. Most of his books deal with research into the social sciences, particularly sociology and psychology and have been best sellers. This book once more casts an extra critical eye on this situation and outcome. But it was news to me. They believed that bombing strategic targets made sense, and bombing population centers didnt. 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. When he is introducing characters and showing them in conflict, The Bomber Mafia is gripping. You can send this audiobook as a gift by visiting this page to select the audiobook and enter your lucky recipients information. Thank you for purchasing The Bomber Mafia, an audiobook by Malcolm Gladwell. He and several friends decided People have been flocking to the Egypt-Sudan border to escape the violence from two Sudanese rival forces despite a South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol urged still-more strengthening of the U.S.-led security alliance guarding against nuclear-armed North Korea One fun way to see the world and visit unique locations is on a cruise ship.
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