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

Publisher's summary

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. As listeners hear these stories unfurl, Gladwell examines 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 Revisionist History, Gladwell reexamines moments from the past and asks whether we got it right the first time. In The Bomber Mafia, he employs all the production techniques that make Revisionist History so engaging, stepping back from the bombing of Tokyo, the deadliest night of the war, and asking, “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, Hansell’s theories of precision bombing had been foiled by bad weather 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.

©2021 Malcolm Gladwell (P)2021 Malcolm Gladwell

Critic reviews

“The Bomber Mafia is a parable written for the age of technological disruption.” (The Times, London)

"Gladwell is a wonderful storyteller. When he is introducing characters and showing them in conflict, The Bomber Mafia is gripping. I enjoyed this short book thoroughly, and would have been happy if it had been twice as long." (The New York Times)

“An innovative audio book with music, sound effects and archival clips. Gladwell’s easy conversational style works well, and his admiration for the Bomber Mafia shines through.” (The Washington Post)

Why aren’t more audiobooks as well-done as this?!

The Bomber Mafia is an exceptionally well done and engaging audiobook — perhaps the first audiobook to achieve this distinction. As an avid reader (listener), I can only hope that more audiobooks follow suit instead of resorting to some monotone reading of a text without any of the tools used by this book to keep readers engaged.

Interesting, but unbalanced, with gaps

I found the book entertaining and interesting.
However, I was repeatedly dismayed at the odd gaps it seemed to have and the bias it sometimes showed.
The audiobook production was very good, though some of the sound effects came across as trite.

I'd recommend it, but you may need to fill in the gaps to have the complete picture.

As far as gaps:
- It talked about the growth of the Army Air Corps, but made no mention of Billy Mitchell
- It talked about the Air Corps Tactical School not having books or journals to read, but there were some books on the subject available to them, including Douhet's "Command of the Air" and a few others
- It talks at length about the Norden bomb sight and the problems with it but doesn't talk about its overall effectiveness or repairs to it
- It didn't even mention Doolittle's Raid, even when talking about the bombing of Japan
- It mentioned both atom bombs but only mentioned the Enola Gay

In terms of bias, the author clearly respects the hardline members of 'bomber mafia' mindset, even when they fail to get results. However, he seems quite opposed to Curtis LeMay and clearly likes Hansell. His approach to this doesn't seem at all balanced.

A good thread of history.

This story tells how daylight precision bombing came to be, and was abandoned in the late stage of the war against Japan.

Well done and intriguing

Very well done and a great topic. Don’t agree with all the conclusions but a fair treatment of the issues.

Excellent very full audio book

This is a story that is beautifully told by gladwell with excerpts perfectly laced in.

Galdwell does it again

interesting book and really shows war from the strategic side and the history which the tactical elements occurred.

Another enjoyable experience

Loved the Historical characters and their perspective at that time. Looking back on that time and those who lived them is hard to hear. And Malcolm does a good job of maintaining a balanced view that I respect and appreciate.

Did Hansel really win the war?

Great story. But it should be noted that the US has never “won” a war using high-tech precision weapons. Only overwhelming violent force wins. With precision weapons, the adversary adapts, hides, avoids and mingles. The fighting goes on for 20 years, the pain endures and lingers, and the psychological damage is greater. There is no effort to win quickly to ultimately reduce damage.

Great Story

A great historical point-of-view, usually WWII books follows very specific pattern and concept, this book takes you through facts and historical nuance that is awesome absolutely worth reading! So much better as an audiobook, the audio clips make it so engaging! And as a side note ignore the "internet troll" reviews that poorly rate this because it's has material covered in his podcast, it's worth it, and sometimes you support an author by buying a book instead of being a scrounge.

Not your typical WWII book

Malcolm Gladwell presents an overview of the changes in thinking/philosophy of the U.S. Air Force during WWII. Fascinating to get a look at all the players and how they precipitated the horrible events in Japan in 1945.