Most military thinkers in the years leading up to World War II saw the airplane as an afterthought. 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. What of the infinitely long nights of millions of concentration camp prisoners? The B-29s were capable of making the 3,000+ mile round trip from Guam to Japan. He released a couple chapters from this book as episodes of Revisionist History. the moral challenges of modern american history. All rights reserved. Two new bomber groups were formed in the Pacific: LeMay headed one in India and Hansell led another in the Marianas. Listen to audiobooks in the same place you spend hours listening to your favorite podcasts. 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. Review and highlights: The Bomber Mafia, by Malcom Gladwell He was hardly a theorist, and especially not someone out to make war more humane. 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. LeMay would have no place in a modern air force, his outdated and shallow, callous theories are now considered war crimes, we will never do it again, and we will never sit back and watch it happen somewhere else. Actually, Gladwell mentions that the audio style is the initial text, as well as the hardback is the secondary item. 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. While one is a celebrated hero, the other was an idealist whose concepts allowed him to be sidelined in the annals of background. I enjoyed this short book thoroughly, and would have been happy if it had been twice as long. The war ended some 76 years ago. In Gladwells account, Hansells relatively more humane approach didnt work. He just didnt have it. 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. Note from the author Malcolm Gladwell, author . If the Allied forces had been forced to invade Japan, the country likely would have been split up by the Soviets and Americans after the war, and the casualties are almost impossible to imagine. Malcolm Gladwell had a podcast on this topic last year. Regardless, it was estimated that there would have been 2 MILLION American casualties had there been an invasion. They also complete an image analysis section and create two propaganda posters from different . Chapter-by-chapter summaries and multiple sections of expert analysis, The ultimate resource for assignments, engaging lessons, and lively book discussions. But when Gladwell leaps to provide superlative assessments, or draws broad lessons of history from isolated incidents, he makes me wary. 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. On the eve of the Second World War, a band of visionaries at Maxwell Air Force Base tried to reimagine modern warfare. Please simply click here to enter your email address (no additional purchase required) and you will receive the Listeners Guide. Hes more of an intellectual explorer than a disciplined academic. But I dont think the ghost of LeMay can be put to rest so easily. Later, Saville successfully implemented his ideas in the Mediterranean Theater. The Bomber Mafia Audiobook by Malcolm Gladwell - hoopla you can submit them using the q&a button. A small number of apps may require users to copy their URL and paste it directly into the app. The pilot kept flying.. Book Review: Technology, Will and War's Deadliest Night in Malcolm Take capers these are certainly not peas. New Review from Brian Castner: Malcolm Gladwell's "The Bomber Mafia The setting is Second World War. Had the war gone on longer, into the winter of 1945-46, he suggests, millions of Japanese could have died of starvation. Those are exactly the same, but there's a lot more to the book. 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. The rest of the book focuses on the Pacific Theater during the last two years of the war. This was a ripoff and should have just been a podcast. After the war, LeMay was given a high medal by the Japanese government. Wondering if someone out there has both listened to the podcast and read this book? [7] This could lead to a minimum of war-time casualties with new technology such as the Norden bombsight. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. As long as youre comfortable with the numbers of people who were killed during the air attacks described throughout the book. Malcolm Gladwell on the Hard Decisions of War, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/25/books/review/the-bomber-mafia-malcolm-gladwell.html. The Listeners Guide is only available from Pushkin Industries when you buy The Bomber Mafia. They intended the mission to be against military and industrial targets, not populations. The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation and the Longest Night of the Second World War, by Malcolm Gladwell, Little, Brown and Co., New York, 2021, $27. Part one on the extraordinary life of the Air Force General Curtis LeMay. I would have been bored with this when I was 11--likely he would be, too. Kelsey formulated a new "interceptor" class of aircraft in order to sustain his idea that a well-armed fighter aircraft could successfully attack enemy bombers, and that, given drop tanks for long range, it could defend friendly bombers all the way to the target and back.[15]. It's a history of the dueling philosophies regarding bombing that existed in the US military during World War II. The Bomber Mafia isn't an honest or earnest look at what experts have written and thought about America's air campaigns during WWII. Purchase the audiobook by using the form on an audiobook page. Gladwell 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. 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. [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. War stories are a brand-new category for those utilized to Macolm Gladwells distinct brand of nonfiction. 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. Agreed? Much of the book concerns the technical and practical aspects of the Norden bombsight, in a 'grown-ups arguing' sort of way. How the WWII 'Bomber Mafia' Lost the Short-Term Battle But Won the [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. Since I had the ability to concentrate on guide as a historical message, I had much more success following along. Fortunately for LeMay, there was another new technology on the horizon. You will be emailed a confirmation with the link to the audiobook or you can login with your email addresshere. 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. It does give you a. Please check back soon for future events. This is history brought to life through the power of audio. Once Japan became secluded on their mainland why not just create a complete blockade of the whole nation? Bombing of Tokyo on March 10, 1945 with Operation Meetinghouse, "You Know Your History? Reader Q&A, Malcolm Gladwells exploration of how technology and best intentions collide in the heat of war. And then another. [1][2][3] In 2016, Gladwell started Revisionist History, a history-focused podcast that "re-examines something from the past an event, a person, an idea, even a song and asks whether we got it right the first time". Required fields are marked *. After you enter your email address, youll get a unique link. Gladwell is a wonderful storyteller. So, he asserts, Curtis LeMay won the battle. The podcast is called Revisionist History, and is excellent by the way. LeMay has taken over from Hansell and used napalm, resulting in markedly more success but also much greater destruction and killing of civilians. McFarland, Stephen L.; Richard P. Hallion (2008). Malcolm Gladwell The Bomber Mafia Audiobook Online. Also, the air arm tends to be regarded by the other services as suspiciously civilian-ish as in the soldiers one-liner, I have a lot of respect for the U.S. military, and also for the Air Force. But in Gladwells deft hands, the Air Force generals of World War II come back to life as the stirring 20th-century equivalent of Adm. Horatio Nelson and his band of audacious captains from the age of fighting sail. Their empire building was targeted towards oil production, in order to be a world power you must have oil. Copyright 2023 Military.com. 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. Por Vs. Para Mafia Game. ", "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. 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. 'The Bomber Mafia' Book Review - HistoryNet It reviews the capabilities that todays military has in terms of bombing and notes that the Bomber Mafias philosophy of precision bombing won out in the end. [25] Professors Fedman and Karacas stated that errors "pile up to the point where it becomes clear that a book that has received so much attention ought to have received more fact-checking". The last chapter deals with the end of the war, as Gladwell examines the moral issues involved in LeMays actions and whether they were justified in the circumstances. They had and have no oil or other energy natural resources, their cities and industries would have suffered greatly. By dropping bombs with precision onto strategic targets, Hansell believed wars could be won faster and with far less . Just how wrong was I, however in a blink of an eye I had a book I could not take down. I am a big fan of Malcolm Gladwell. They believed that war could thus be waged more humanely because collateral damage, including civilian deaths, could be minimized and wars ended faster. The imposter foods ought to additionally be moved up on the bomb listing. Why are campus sexual assaults on the rise? "[26] Fedman and Karacas state "[w]ittingly or not, [Gladwell] omits or downplays evidence that undermines the very premise of the book. I'm interested in the Bomber Mafia for my 13 y.o. [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. 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. 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. Supported apps include: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocketcasts, Podcast Addict, Castbox, BeyondPod, Downcast, PlayerFM, Breaker, and RadioPublic. [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. Yes, it would have caused millions to starve and die but the invasion alternative would have caused millions of allied lives. Gen. Haywood Hansell and Maj. Gen. Curtis LeMay about the best way to bomb Japan in hopes of ending the war in late 1944 and early 1945. Is this book appropriate for an 11-year old that reads a lot WW II history and fiction books? in the program we will take some of your questions. 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. LeMays solution was to saturate Tokyo with napalm bombs, killing as many as 100,000 people in about six hours, and then to go on and firebomb dozens of other Japanese cities, killing thousands upon thousands, sometimes when the target cities were of little or no military value. 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. Bomber Mafia is story of efficiency, morality and technology. [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. 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. And also yet, this publication is something that maintains you invested as it exists as a little bit more than an item of 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. 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. Anyone can read what you share. Hansell was a junior member of the Bomber Mafia, a group that put its faith in the new Norden precision bombsight. A second shell hit the radio compartment, cutting the legs of the radio operator off at the knees. Perhaps bombing debate this is old hat to many of my readers. In The Bombing plane Mafia, he hones in on a specific period of history. Yes. The Bomber Mafia, through a "failure of imagination" in not expanding the doctrine to include establishing air superiority as a prerequisite for success,[16] would not accept either of these conceptsthey believed the heavy bomber fleet could protect itself, and thus they contributed to the delay in the development of a long-range escort fighter until two years into the war. The British strategy was known as area bombing, which amounted to creating as much damage as possible over a wide area. 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. A third hit the bombardier in the head and shoulder. Guide because backdrop is a story of optimism. Upon release, The Bomber Mafia was met with mixed reviews, with reviewers praising its audiobook version but criticizing the book for a lack of accuracy and for being light on details. [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. 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. Why did Neville Chamberlain think he could trust Adolf Hitler? The calculation is based on fuel vs weight vs resistance so tailwind wins. 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. [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. [2] Precision in bombing was not achieved until long-range fighter escorts became available and air superiority was achieved, as opponents had warned. In that sense, Gladwell wrote that Hansell "won the war."[21][22]. Kurt Vonneguts seminal publication Slaughterhouse five took the allied battle (pointless) of Dresden with the POV of Prisioners of war. I went back and read The Bomber Mafia a second time. For those of us who had family waiting to invade, whatever the reason(s), it was very welcome. Some apps may require users to copy their URL and paste it directly into the app. Ask the Author. In The Bombing plane Mafia, he hones in on a specific period of history. Bomber Mafia Questions 2,700,000+ results. This change of commandand what it meant in terms of military strategyis the crux of this book. It was decided primarily by General Curtis LeMay to carpet bomb Tokyo, using napalm. 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. The strategic bombing concept, however, was a major factor in the eventual victory and became the first core doctrine of the independent United States Air Force. 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. Most military thinkers in the . 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[4][5] In contrast, American theorists devised a strategy of pin-point bombing that targeted the enemy economy and the production of weapons. LeMay replaced Hansell at the end of 1944 and soon began a campaign of terror that eventually visited virtually every major city in Japan. Why? Blow them up for existing to us !!! In the first chapter, Gladwell introduces Carl Norden, inventor of the Norden bombsight, the first sight that allowed bombs to accurately hit their target. I immediately thought, Oh yeah? Malcolm Gladwell and "The Bomber Mafia". Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The Bomber Mafia A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War Audio Book Free Online Download. Purchase The Bomber Mafia and receive the exclusive Bomber Mafia Listeners Guide a visual document of the making of The Bomber Mafia. Why must they act like peas? Chapter 3 is about the British and American bombing campaign against Germany in 1943. Starting in 2022, Starbucks is expanding its Veterans Day freebie to include an additional product: iced coffee. Curtis LeMay (with pipe) discusses plans for bombing Tokyo. There is nothing 'inappropriate' in the book, it is simply not about battles and actions. Senora Panqueque's Classroom. Would this audiobook be appropriate for a teen with an interest in military history? Emergency workers and local residents battled to clear debris and extinguish fires in the Ukrainian city of Uman after Two U.S. army helicopters collided and crashed Thursday in Alaska while returning from a training flight, killing three soldiers 89-year-old Max Hancock was an U.S. airman stationed outside of Oxford, England, in 1953.

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