The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War. Malcolm Gladwell. New York, New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2021.
Malcolm Gladwell is known for telling stories—stories about success, societal change, underdogs, and how people or groups of people misunderstand each other. In The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World, Gladwell brings to life historical figures who were instrumental in developing the United States’ bombing campaigns during World War II. He tells a story of obsession over an idea and its results, whether ethical or not. That is, obsession for perfecting a bombsight like Carl Norden attempted; precision bombing tactics championed by General Haywood S. Hansell, who put ethics above the mission and failed to produce the necessary results; and ending World War II the quickest way possible in the eyes of General Curtis LeMay, who ordered the bombings that killed up to perhaps 500,000 Japanese civilians. He illustrates that they—Carl Norden, General Haywood S. Hansell, General Curtis LeMay, and a team of chemists at Harvard—are the bomber mafia, a group of people who are forever connected by the same hope that bombing would be the deciding factor in a war. Drawing upon the historical genre, Gladwell, rather than writing specifically about the events of World War II or theories of airpower, decided to write about people. His writing is so vivid that it paints a clear picture of the chronological order of events regarding the bombing campaign. It is easy to understand why the campaign developed in the way that it did.
Gladwell describes in detail the chain of events that led from ideas about precision bombing in Alabama to one of the deadliest events of the war: the firebombing of Tokyo. Along the way he essentially asks if it was worth it to teach precision bombing and build the Norden bombsight. Gladwell gives the background necessary to answer the question, though he does not take a position.
Gladwell is chronological in his development of the events. He begins by explaining the life of Carl Norden, who invented the Norden bombsight, a technology built to provide precise and accurate bombing from high altitudes. What follows is the history behind a group of airpower theorists, primarily instructors at the Air Corps Tactical School (ACTS), who promoted strategic bombing. One of those men at ACTS, General Hansell, would pioneer the use of the bombsight in war. Unfortunately, the Norden bombsight performed poorly, but Hansell maintained faith. This led to him being relieved from command. Curtis LeMay replaced him, and Gladwell analyzes his role in the firebombing of Japanese cities. LeMay caught wind of a new compound, napalm, developed by a team of chemists at Harvard. Gladwell describes in detail the chain of events that led from ideas about precision bombing in Alabama to one of the deadliest events of the war: the firebombing of Tokyo. Along the way he essentially asks if it was worth it to teach precision bombing and build the Norden bombsight. Gladwell gives the background necessary to answer the question, though he does not take a position.
Gladwell builds the historical figures and introduces intriguing details about them, painting them as legends. This is the story. He then asks the reader to decide which actions of the figures are moral.
So, why would Malcolm Gladwell, an English-born Canadian author and journalist, write a book about the Bomber Mafia? Including The Bomber Mafia, he has written seven books. In the book he claims that he has always been fascinated by the bombing campaigns of World War II, and that he owns numerous books on the subject. As a bit of a history buff and a host of the Revisionist History podcast, where he presents and discusses historical events with a twist on the interpretation, it makes sense. Interestingly, when asked about his writing process during an interview with Eric Jaffe, Gladwell states, “I have two parallel things I'm interested in. One is, I'm interested in collecting interesting stories, and the other is, I'm interested in collecting interesting research. What I'm looking for is cases where they overlap.”[1] With that in mind, it becomes clearer why Gladwell wrote The Bomber Mafia. The stories are endless, and the amount of research and debate relating to the bombing campaign is insurmountable. Gladwell aims to provide the events of the war regarding what he considers to be the deciding factor: the use of airpower in the bombing campaigns. He builds the historical figures and introduces intriguing details about them, painting them as legends. This is the story. He then asks the reader to decide which actions of the figures are moral. His story tells us which actions had kinetic effects and describes important developments that occurred after the war, but he does not make an explicit argument as to whether the bombing campaigns were just. That is for you and me to decide.
B-29 “Doc.” (Tyrell Mayfield)
The greatest strength of The Bomber Mafia is how information is delivered. It is important to note that I opted to listen to the book rather than read it. Although the printed work overlaps greatly with the audiobook, the audiobook is special. Gladwell provides listeners with primary anecdotal accounts of the events he describes. He includes interviews with experts on the subject and at times even some interviews with the person he is describing. For example, when building his version of General Curtis LeMay, Gladwell will make a claim about his character, then give you the evidence delivered in a manner such that you are hearing it directly from LeMay. When explaining the horrors of World War II, rather than giving a number of casualties, emotional interviews with men who were at the event explain what they saw as they wept. It is deeply personal and emotional. The incredible detail Gladwell provides is a major strength. He builds historical figures with a sense of mythicism, and it feels like he is describing the actions of Hercules rather than a general. But, this is a double-edged sword.
It is not meant to be a completely accurate depiction of history; it is meant to offer a way of looking at the events of World War II in a different light.
The primary weakness of the work is that Gladwell provides only one interpretation of historical figures. I do not know any of these people personally, and I am in no position to judge them, yet it is impossible not to. We take Gladwell’s interpretation as the truth, and he chooses his evidence wisely. He questions the actions of LeMay but admits they were crucial to ending the war, and applauds the theories of Hansell but explains they were ineffective. But, we know it is not the full story; in no way can the events of World War II be boiled down so easily. So, even though Gladwell equips us with the facts of the events to determine whether the developments throughout the bombing campaign were worth it, we are not necessarily equipped to judge these people. Still, one can argue that Hansell was ahead of his time, but LeMay got the job done. Another weakness is that Gladwell does not reference sources; he simply asks the opinions of other people. But Gladwell does not claim to be a historian, just an enthusiast of sorts. But, that changes the interpretation of the book. It is not meant to be a completely accurate depiction of history; it is meant to offer a way of looking at the events of World War II in a different light. Hence the name for his podcast: Revisionist History.
All in all, Gladwell wrote one hell of a war story, but it is imperfect. Gladwell introduced some extraordinary people, extraordinary for different reasons, but impressive nonetheless. He provided insights into why events happened the way that they did, and he presented the timeline so that we could see the development of the campaign. As I stated earlier, this is a story of obsession. Obsession can lead us to lose sight of the bigger picture, like how Hansell was determined to use high-altitude, precision bombing tactics, even though they did not work, thereby risking the mission. But, obsession also leads to the creation of compelling arguments. The obsessions of these men are responsible for the development of current U.S. Air Force bombing tactics. The U.S. Air Force has learned from its mistakes and improved its technology, and the Department of Defense has modified its rules of engagement. As such, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an interesting and entertaining take on a highly debated part of World War II.
Michael Miranda is an officer in the US Air Force. He is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and has a Bachelors of Science in Economics. The views expressed are the author’s alone and do not reflect those of the U.S. Air Force, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.
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Header Image: B-29 “Doc”, Tinker AFB, Oklahoma 2019 (Tyrell Mayfield).
Notes:
[1] Eric Jaffe, “Malcolm in the Middle,” Association for Psychological Science - APS, March 1, 2006, https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/malcolm-in-the-middle.