The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World 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 best sellers 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 homemade computer, a band of brothers in central Alabama, a British psychopath, and pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard.
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I love the way Gladwell weaves a tale, all of the stories are so well written and told - but you'd need to be interested in WWII history I think to truly get into it.
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The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell
206 pages
What’s it about?
The Bomber Mafia is the name of a group of strategic military leaders that began working together at Maxwell Field in Alabama after World War 1. They believed that warfare would change now that airplanes were becoming more sophisticated. Their hope was that precision bombing would take out critical infrastructure and shorten the length of wars- thus minimizing heavy casualties. Precision bombing and their idealism are both put to the test during World War 2.
What did it make me think about?
This story reminded me that the choices we make say a lot about us as people. Malcolm Gladwell writes, "We live in an era when new tools and technologies and innovations emerge every day. But the only way those new technologies serve some higher purpose is if a dedicated band of believers insists that they be used to that purpose."
Should I read it?
I believe Malcom Gladwell could make any topic interesting.
Quote-
"The whole argument of the Bomber Mafia, their whole reason for being, was that they didn't want to cross the line. They weren't just advancing a technological argument. They were also advancing a moral argument about how to wage war."
If you liked this try-
One Summer by Bill Bryson
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The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell
206 pages
What’s it about?
The Bomber Mafia is the name of a group of strategic military leaders that began working together at Maxwell Field in Alabama after World War 1. They believed that warfare would change now that airplanes were becoming more sophisticated. Their hope was that precision bombing would take out critical infrastructure and shorten the length of wars- thus minimizing heavy casualties. Precision bombing and their idealism are both put to the test during World War 2.
What did it make me think about?
This story reminded me that the choices we make say a lot about us as people. Malcolm Gladwell writes, "We live in an era when new tools and technologies and innovations emerge every day. But the only way those new technologies serve some higher purpose is if a dedicated band of believers insists that they be used to that purpose."
Should I read it?
I believe Malcom Gladwell could make any topic interesting.
Quote-
"The whole argument of the Bomber Mafia, their whole reason for being, was that they didn't want to cross the line. They weren't just advancing a technological argument. They were also advancing a moral argument about how to wage war."
If you liked this try-
One Summer by Bill Bryson
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis
The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
What a great book, about such an odd subject "Humanity of War".
The thought process under which the Bomber Mafia was formed is amazing: reduce the casualties of war by doing precision bombing. The fact that some people actually dedicated their whole lives to this cause, while others were busy ignoring them, in itself is fantastic.
The book in itself is a great listen on Audible because of the actual audio snippets and immersive experience.
I don't know how much fun it will be to read it.
The thought process under which the Bomber Mafia was formed is amazing: reduce the casualties of war by doing precision bombing. The fact that some people actually dedicated their whole lives to this cause, while others were busy ignoring them, in itself is fantastic.
The book in itself is a great listen on Audible because of the actual audio snippets and immersive experience.
I don't know how much fun it will be to read it.
Audiobook is immersive. One of the best I’ve listened to. Author/producers used audio from primary sources when available.
Malcolm Gladwell is the man! I am extremely interested in aviation and aviation history so this book hit the sweet spot. You can never go wrong with a Malcolm Gladwell audio book, I flew through this one.
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