The Bomber Mafia: a dream, a temptation, and the longest night of the second World War
(Book)
An exploration of how technology and best intentions collide in the heat of war
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
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.
Notes
Gladwell, M. (2021). The Bomber Mafia: a dream, a temptation, and the longest night of the second World War. New York, Little Brown & Co.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Gladwell, Malcolm, 1963-. 2021. The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War. New York, Little Brown & Co.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Gladwell, Malcolm, 1963-, The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War. New York, Little Brown & Co, 2021.
MLA Citation (style guide)Gladwell, Malcolm. The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War. New York, Little Brown & Co, 2021.
Record Information
Last Sierra Extract Time | Apr 22, 2024 12:49:23 PM |
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Last File Modification Time | Apr 22, 2024 12:49:34 PM |
Last Grouped Work Modification Time | May 02, 2024 03:38:47 PM |
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245 | 1 | 4 | |a The Bomber Mafia :|b a dream, a temptation, and the longest night of the second World War /|c Malcolm Gladwell. |
264 | 1 | |a New York :|b Little Brown & Co.,|c [2021]. | |
264 | 4 | |c 2021 | |
300 | |a xiv, 240 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates :|b black and white illustrations ;|c 21 cm | ||
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504 | |a Includes bibliographical references (pages 211-231) and index. | ||
520 | |a "Malcolm Gladwell's exploration of how technology and best intentions collide in the heat of war. In The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War, 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 had a different view. This 'Bomber Mafia' asked: What if precision bombing could, just by taking out critical choke points -- industrial or transportation hubs -- cripple the enemy and make war far less lethal? In his podcast, Revisionist History, Gladwell re-examines moments from the past and asks whether we got it right the first time. In The Bomber Mafia, he 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. Things might have gone differently had LeMay's predecessor, General Haywood Hansell, remained in charge. As a key member of the Bomber Mafia, Haywood's theories of precision bombing had been foiled by bad weather, enemy jet fighters, and human error. 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." --|c Provided by publisher. | ||
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