The US Bomber Mafia agreed with Baldwin only in that the bomber would prevail in its mission. 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. As a compromise first step, the General Headquarters (GHQ) Air Force was established within the Army Air Corps in 1935, commanded by General Frank M. Andrews, a strategic bombing advocate. [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. New Review from Brian Castner: Malcolm Gladwell's "The Bomber Mafia or ask your favorite author a question with 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. For customer support, contact help@supportingcast.fm. 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. The nascent, emerging and the ambitious force that . Chapter-by-chapter summaries and multiple sections of expert analysis, The ultimate resource for assignments, engaging lessons, and lively book discussions. There are actual recordings of interviews conducted by Gladwell and also taken from documentaries filmed or recorded in the decades since the war. Margaritaville at Sea is a 1,680-passenger cruise ship that first started sailing early this year. 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. Curtis Lemay as well as Haywood Hansell are opposite ends of a range in the high adrenaline battle Flying force. 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. [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. It is also the story of the ascent of Air force. 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. 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. 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. All rights reserved. [6] Though unproven, the major attraction of this sort of strategic bombing doctrine was that a war was expected to be won relatively quickly, with minimal casualties, and that grinding, static trench warfare as seen in World War I could be avoided. In the Pacific, they had better planes to go against Japan. I'm interested in the Bomber Mafia for my 13 y.o. I seriously doubt Russias entry into the war was a factor. A third option is rarely discussed. Some apps may require users to copy their URL and paste it directly into the app. 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. 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. By stream The system was then implemented in The second world war to varying outcomes. 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. Almost 100 B-24 planes were lost with only minimal damage done to the ball bearing plant. 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. I went back and read The Bomber Mafia a second time. Bomber Mafia Questions 2,700,000+ results. [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. [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]. Show Description. His thinking was that it would be better to force the enemy to surrender early, as a prolonged war would cause more suffering. We now live in a world where its not too much of an exaggeration to say that a bomber flying at 50,000 feet can tickle a targets nose hairs with the advanced systems we now have in place. No new apps to download, no subscription fees. [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". To bombing experts, parks are nettlesome firebreaks that interfere with a target citys combustibility. As listeners hear these stories unfurl, Gladwell examines one of the greatest moral challenges in modern American history. 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. 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. Just how wrong was I, however in a blink of an eye I had a book I could not take down. During World War II, some of these pilots became major decision makers. 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. WATCH SEGMENT. Contact Us | How did Fidel Castro fool the CIA for a generation? However, the doctrine nonetheless became the foundation for the separation of the Air Force from the Army, and the basis for modern airpower theory. The book concludes that "LeMay won the battle. Andrews staffed the command with like-minded officers such as Henry H. "Hap" Arnold. Take those in the hazardous category such as the spikey pineapple or a horned melon. Something is very wrong, Gladwell argues, with the tools and strategies we use to make sense of people we dont know. The print has its merits of being able to take your time to know the history of the "bomber mafia." Very interesting. Hes more of an intellectual explorer than a disciplined academic. Highly recommend it. With thousands of Veterans Day military discounts to choose from, how do you find the best ones? 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. But I dont think the ghost of LeMay can be put to rest so easily. It's true: The audiobook breaks conventional audiobook standards, as this is a well-produced audio experience. In that sense, Gladwell wrote that Hansell "won the war."[21][22]. Is this book appropriate for an 11-year old that reads a lot WW II history and fiction books? 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 Bomber Mafia' Book Review - HistoryNet Listen to audiobooks in the same place you spend hours listening to your favorite podcasts. [21] In The New York Times Book Review, Thomas E. Ricks called the book "a conversational work" which he enjoyed, but noted that "when Gladwell leaps to provide superlative assessments, or draws broad lessons of history from isolated incidents, he makes me wary". Its a history of the dueling philosophies regarding bombing that existed in the US military during World War II. 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. 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. [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. A third hit the bombardier in the head and shoulder. 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? [8] In that regard, this was at odds with Britain's Royal Air Force' doctrine of area bombing under the command of Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur Harris. Review and highlights: The Bomber Mafia, by Malcom Gladwell Ultimately, though, the Bomber Mafia was right. 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. 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 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. Ive read most of Gladwells books, but he always finds something new to tackle from a different angle. Bomber Mafia Listeners Guide Final | PDF | Boeing B 29 - Scribd 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? Please take a moment to review it. Blow them up for existing to us !!! Overall casualties in the war were not minimal, and victory did not come significantly more quickly. There is nothing 'inappropriate' in the book, it is simply not about battles and actions. Malcolm Gladwell has in his hands a very good story in The Bomber Mafia. 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? NOW PLAYING. When he is introducing characters and showing them in conflict, The Bomber Mafia is gripping. Chapter 8 resumes the narrative of the bombing campaign against Japan from the Marianas. However I really did not recognize why this publication merely discusses why this was the status quo. Their assurance, their journey gets provided a little bit too late for it to have any substantial bearing on the war. World War II had begun in Europe in 1939, and the United States entered in 1941, after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. Privacy Policy | 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.. The Bomber Mafia A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War Audio Book Free Online Download. It was decided primarily by General Curtis LeMay to carpet bomb Tokyo, using napalm. The State of Journalism on World Press Freedom Day. These Podcasts Aren't So Sure", "Presenting: The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell", "The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War", "The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell review why 'precision bombing' is an utter delusion", "Wrestling with the strategy and morality of the firebombing of Japan", "The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell, review the Outliers author on the morality of war", "Malcolm Gladwell on the Hard Decisions of War", "When Pop History Bombs: A Response to Malcolm Gladwell's Love Letter to American Air Power", "Malcolm Gladwell's The Bomber Mafia is misleading history-lite", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Bomber_Mafia&oldid=1134344848, This page was last edited on 18 January 2023, at 06:23. The new discount program will be accessed through the exchange stores or websites, not Home Depot locations. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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). There are a lot of moral dilemmas to chew on here. A Look at Malcolm Gladwell's The Bomber Mafia 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. On the eve of the Second World War, a band of visionaries at Maxwell Air Force Base tried to reimagine modern warfare. [2] Precision in bombing was not achieved until long-range fighter escorts became available and air superiority was achieved, as opponents had warned. Chapter 3 is about the British and American bombing campaign against Germany in 1943. Of course today he would be ignored and demoted. The book is adapted from a series of podcasts Gladwell created for his show . Thank you for purchasing The Bomber Mafia, an audiobook by Malcolm Gladwell. And was engrossed once again. I enjoyed this short book thoroughly, and would have been happy if it had been twice as long. In The Bombing plane Mafia, he hones in on a specific period of history. After graduating from ACTS in 1931, Mitchell protge Harold L. George stayed at the school to refine and teach the new bombing theory, soon recruiting as teachers his former students Haywood S. Hansell, Donald Wilson and Laurence S. Kuter as fellow bomber advocates. But a small band of idealistic strategists had a different view. The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War is a nonfiction book by Malcolm Gladwell, published in 2021. The British strategy was known as area bombing, which amounted to creating as much damage as possible over a wide area. First, the U.S. command didnt really seem to understand what LeMays campaign was doing to Japan. The next chapter details the pilots at the Air Corps Tactical School in Alabama who were known as the Bomber Mafia. Most military thinkers in the years leading up to World War II saw the airplane as an afterthought. Gladwell raises two fascinating points. 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. Why did Neville Chamberlain think he could trust Adolf Hitler? Everyone, generals included, hated the mass . What would happen with bombing in a really big war remains to be seen. 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. The Bomber Mafia isn't an honest or earnest look at what experts have written and thought about America's air campaigns during WWII. They intended the mission to be against military and industrial targets, not populations.
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