By Malcolm Gladwell
I have always pre-ordered Malcolm Gladwell’s books so that they show up on the day of release. Whenever I finish one of his books, I always tell friends to quickly read the latest so we can get together and discuss/debate…..this book, The Bomber Mafia, rises to that level and more. Gladwell sheds new thought provoking light on war strategies that have changed the course of our world.
“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.
Most military thinkers in the years leading up to World War II saw the airplane as an afterthought. But a small band of idealistic strategists, the “Bomber Mafia,” asked: What if precision bombing could cripple the enemy and make war far less lethal?
In contrast, the bombing of Tokyo on the deadliest night of the war 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 even more by averting a planned US invasion. In The Bomber Mafia, Gladwell asks, “Was it worth it?”
Things might have gone differently had LeMay’s predecessor, General Haywood Hansell, remained in charge. Hansell believed in precision bombing, but 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. The Bomber Mafia is a riveting tale of persistence, innovation, and the incalculable wages of war.”
I highly recommend reading this book at the same time as some others, whether it is a weekly small group, supper club or seeking a few friends to read it at the same time. You will quickly finish The Bomber Mafia and want to talk about it!