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. The additional we obtain from these events the less we appear to appreciate it was a various time and lacking much of the technology we currently take for given. Gladwell delves deep into how the Norden didnt quite deliver for Hansell in Europe and how the (as-yet-undiscovered) jetstream made it even more difficult to use in American bombing raids over Japan. LeMay was instead, in the words of the military historian Conrad Crane, the Air Forces ultimate problem solver. As Gladwell tells it, the practical problem was how to win the war as quickly as possible. The author of the book is Malcolm Gladwell, an English-born Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker. [2] The Bomber Mafia was gradually replaced in the 1950s and 1960s by advocates of intercontinental ballistic missile warfare. 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. Key ideas from The Bomber Mafia. Please take a moment to review it. [2] In November 1932 when British Lord President of the Council Stanley Baldwin said "the bomber will always get through", he was talking about the terror bombing of cities. But a small band of idealistic strategists had a different view. Take capers these are certainly not peas. Gladwell begins the story in the Introduction in January 1945, on the Mariana Islands. The book description sounds exactly like the podcast. Many years later a related term "Fighter Mafia" described those within the Air Force that favored lightweight fighters good at dog-fighting instead of heavy missile-firing fighters. a lot of current racial issues facing our country. 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. Kurt Vonneguts seminal publication Slaughterhouse five took the allied battle (pointless) of Dresden with the POV of Prisioners of war. [] Hansell won the war". Once you are in a way, are some forms of bombing more humane than others? World War II had begun in Europe in 1939, and the United States entered in 1941, after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. We are excited to provide you an exclusiveListener'sGuidethat offers an inside look at the production process, archival imagery, and commentary from Malcolm and the producers and engineers involved with this extraordinaryproject. 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. 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. 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. I seriously doubt Russias entry into the war was a factor. There is nothing 'inappropriate' in the book, it is simply not about battles and actions. [13], Other opposition was more subtle. You get lower prices, too, because nobody had to build a fancy new app. While we are at it, I really feel that nobody sane would actually mind if a barrel of olive loaf, or environment-friendly bean casserole catches a bomb or 2. Those large conclusions seemed unsubstantiated to me. 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. 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? 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. Precision-guided munitions are hugely expensive, and the stockpiles of them are surprisingly small. This was a stunning yet enjoyable audio books, one I most likely wouldnt have actually gotten if it wasnt composed by Gladwell. All rights reserved. [23], Several reviewers criticized the book for its accuracy, and for being light on details. 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. A second shell hit the radio compartment, cutting the legs of the radio operator off at the knees. 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. I enjoyed this short book thoroughly, and would have been happy if it had been twice as long. 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. You can listen in your preferred podcast app (See below for a complete list of supported apps). The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effects predicts sociologists and sports psychologists would say the same for his . In his 2021 popular history book The Bomber Mafia, Malcolm Gladwell wrote that the idea of precision bombing stayed alive in the US military, with greater accuracy obtained in the 1990s through to the present with guided bombs, such that a modern laser-guided bomb or missile might be expected to destroy not just a single building but a single room in the building, minimizing collateral damage. 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There are a lot of moral dilemmas to chew on here. The ACTS officers who believed in the heavy bomber doctrine realized that any other Air Corps expenditures such as for tactical bombers and fighter aircraft would take away from the proposed large fleet of heavy bombers. Note from the author Malcolm Gladwell, author . When he is introducing characters and showing them in conflict, The Bomber Mafia is gripping. Most military thinkers in the years leading up to World War II saw the airplane as an afterthought. I am a big fan of Malcolm Gladwell. This guide is based on the hardcover first edition. As a key member of the Bomber Mafia, Hansells theories of precision bombing had been foiled by bad weather and human error. Many of my academic friends have warned me to take his conclusions with at least a few grains of salt. Sort: Relevance. 1. The mission failed for several reasons, including clouds that obscured the targets, which had to be seen to use the Norden bombsight. These pilots dreamed of more humane ways to conduct wars. Blow them up for existing to us !!! Yet the issue the Bombing plane Mafia was attempting to fix has both physics as well as moral angles. The biggest runs against a strategic target, specifically a ball bearing factory, largely was a failure. The pilot kept flying.. and Terms of Use, 2023 Hachette Book Group | Terms of Use | Just that, with bombing plane B29s the issue is definitely a lot more intricate with visibility, weather and anti-aircraft weapons to battle with. Tap the link to open your audiobook purchase in your podcast app. or ask your favorite author a question with ASIN: B08V1N49ZN Edition language: English . The Bomber Mafia isn't an honest or earnest look at what experts have written and thought about America's air campaigns during WWII. By subscribing to Pushkin+ or purchasing an audiobook, you are agreeing to be bound by Pushkins Terms of Service and Privacy Policies and to be added to Pushkins mailing list. I knew the Americans went down two atomic weapons to shorten the battle as well as bring Japan to its knees as well as accept surrender to conserve countless lives needed to get into those islands. [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 replaced Hansell at the end of 1944 and soon began a campaign of terror that eventually visited virtually every major city in Japan. [22] Writing for the Los Angeles Review of Books, professors David Fedman and Cary Karacas state "[a]s a piece of writing, The Bomber Mafia is engaging. LeMay was allowed to kill civilians by the tens of thousands because he had a theory about morale among the populace, which never came close to a conclusion. And interesting. Privacy Policy | 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. Most of his books deal with research into the social sciences, particularly sociology and psychology and have been best sellers. I thought he was pretty thorough but obviously if he's written a book he must have thought it worthy of a more even in depth look. The most compelling account is the clash of ideas and the practical options sought to fight on a distant enemy. Thank you for purchasing The Bomber Mafia, an audiobook by Malcolm Gladwell. In The Bombing plane Mafia, he hones in on a specific period of history. The United States had already completely cut off Japans oil supplies and pipelines by the middle of 1944/beginning of 1945, and decimated their navy. Emphasizes just how technical breakthroughs are typically made use of in means they were not indicated. With battles airborne having the power to win you the battle, can we do accuracy battle to help reduce the casualties of war? In The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War, Malcolm Gladwell, author of New York Times bestsellers including Talking to Strangers and host of the podcast Revisionist History, uses original interviews, archival footage and his trademark insight to weave together the stories of a Dutch genius and his First, the U.S. command didnt really seem to understand what LeMays campaign was doing to Japan. LeMay has taken over from Hansell and used napalm, resulting in markedly more success but also much greater destruction and killing of civilians. 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. As a work of history, it borders on reckless". [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. 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. The Sound features songs, audio effects, spoken archival interviews, even one by Ronald Reagan and also Gladwells voice was best for the narrative. That Japanese cities were bombed beyond those I found out about, in a fashion I rarely want to picture. The kind of indiscriminate destruction that LeMay used to win the war is absolutely a thing of the past, at least for American forces. They failed. 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. 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. Yup, thats right! I immediately thought, Oh yeah? Curtis LeMays approach brought everyone Americans and Japanese back to peace and prosperity as quickly as possible, he writes. 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 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. 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 . The Bomber Mafia A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War Audio Book Free Online Download. 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. He just didnt have it. 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. This ferocious approach may have helped end the war, but there is no question that it was horrible. Had the war gone on longer, into the winter of 1945-46, he suggests, millions of Japanese could have died of starvation. Group of soldiers arguing that long-range bombers could win wars, Braxton, Leon E.; Wagner, Arthur H. (2012), Brigadier General William "Billy" Mitchell, "Warden and the Air Corps Tactical School: What Goes Around Comes Around. Gladwell has been included in the TIME 100 Most Influential People list and touted as one of Foreign Policys Top Global Thinkers. The Listeners Guide features additional commentary from Malcolm Gladwell, reflections on the production from producers and engineers, and archival photos from the period. Ultimately, though, the Bomber Mafia was right. Malcolm Gladwells The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War is a kind of love song to the United States Air Force, which is surprising, because it is the least romantic of our armed services, with leaders who focus on technology, not tradition. One historian tells the author that Hansell was not the kind of man who was willing to kill hundreds of thousands of people. The Bomber Mafia is also available in print and ebook wherever books are sold. Is this book appropriate for an 11-year old that reads a lot WW II history and fiction books? And also yet, this publication is something that maintains you invested as it exists as a little bit more than an item of history. General Haywood Hansell is being relieved from overseeing the 21st Bomber Command, to be replaced by General Curtis LeMay. 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. 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. However I really did not recognize why this publication merely discusses why this was the status quo. The second is that Japanese politicians and historians actually thanked LeMay for the campaign after the war. He was hardly a theorist, and especially not someone out to make war more humane. And because we dont know how to talk to strangers, we are inviting conflict and misunderstanding in ways that have a profound effect on our lives and our world. The straightforward location of how Japan was merely outside the range of bombers. On the one side, there are the Americans who believed that the Norden bombsight and the B-29, which could fly at more than . The derogatory term "Bomber Mafia" was used before and after World War II by those in the military who did not share their belief, and who were frustrated by the insistence of the men that the heavy bomber should take a primary position in planning and funding. Things might have gone differently had LeMays predecessor, General Haywood Hansell, remained in charge. There are actual recordings of interviews conducted by Gladwell and also taken from documentaries filmed or recorded in the decades since the war. The system was then implemented in The second world war to varying outcomes. Yet he also concludes that in the long run, in the years that followed, the idealistic Hansell was right to believe that an air campaign based on precision strikes was possible. Very interesting. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); June 29, 2021 9 comments. Contact Us | 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. 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. [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.
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