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A review by nelsta
The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War by Malcolm Gladwell
4.0
When was the last time you watched a made-for-TV documentary? In the late 2000s I was obsessed with them. I loved watching History Channel and Discovery Channel specials on great WWII and Vietnam War battles, dinosaurs, sharks, etc. They all had a specific kitsch style that I didn't realize I missed until listening to this book.
It's not necessarily a bad thing, but this book struck me as the love child of a mid-2000s, made-for-TV documentary and the blockbuster podcast, Serial. The production value, compared to other audiobooks, is through the roof. Music, audio clips, sound effects; this book has it all. And it works well together! Plus the book clocks in at about five hours long, so it's about the same length as a Serial podcast series or a miniseries of TV documentaries. It's practically bite size!
The value of this audiobook isn't in the text or the production value, though. I listened to this book with my father, and the anticipation of his insights and critiques kept me intensely interested throughout the story. I would listen to a section and think to myself, "I wonder what the greater context is here. I'll ask my dad." And that was the greatest gift and biggest complaint I have about this book: lack of context.
Gladwell presents some amazing stories and gives slight context to them. He spends 95% of the book explaining why the Bomber Mafia's theories didn't work and how General LeMay had to abandon the dogma to win the Second World War. But then, just pages from the end of the book, Gladwell states "Curtis won the battle, but Hansell won the war." Wait, what? You're telling me that this whole story was just a detour? The Bomber Mafia's religion of precision bombing really did win in the end? Tell me that story! Don't just end with that.
Also, is that even true? Did Hansell win the war? Gladwell gives a pretty solid counterpoint even closer to the end of the book. He explains that more precise bombing lowers the threshold we have to cross to order an airstrike. So, we're tempted to conduct airstrikes even more often. Just days ago we read a story of a US airstrike in Afghanistan that killed up to ten civilians. So, did Hansell really win? Maybe we aren't carpet bombing cities like LeMay's raids on Japan, but we're definitely not clinical.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was entertaining and thought-provoking. But almost every time I wanted to hear some additional context about something, Gladwell would move along to the next item. And sometimes he would move on to a long tangent, explaining something that didn't really feel like it progressed the thesis of the book along.
All that being said, Gladwell is a truly gifted author. He made me think, use my brain, and come to conclusions about what he was saying. As much as I would have loved to see a more robust text, I couldn't produce anything superior. This book is worth a listen, but it would be more worth your time if you borrowed it or listened to it for free.
It's not necessarily a bad thing, but this book struck me as the love child of a mid-2000s, made-for-TV documentary and the blockbuster podcast, Serial. The production value, compared to other audiobooks, is through the roof. Music, audio clips, sound effects; this book has it all. And it works well together! Plus the book clocks in at about five hours long, so it's about the same length as a Serial podcast series or a miniseries of TV documentaries. It's practically bite size!
The value of this audiobook isn't in the text or the production value, though. I listened to this book with my father, and the anticipation of his insights and critiques kept me intensely interested throughout the story. I would listen to a section and think to myself, "I wonder what the greater context is here. I'll ask my dad." And that was the greatest gift and biggest complaint I have about this book: lack of context.
Gladwell presents some amazing stories and gives slight context to them. He spends 95% of the book explaining why the Bomber Mafia's theories didn't work and how General LeMay had to abandon the dogma to win the Second World War. But then, just pages from the end of the book, Gladwell states "Curtis won the battle, but Hansell won the war." Wait, what? You're telling me that this whole story was just a detour? The Bomber Mafia's religion of precision bombing really did win in the end? Tell me that story! Don't just end with that.
Also, is that even true? Did Hansell win the war? Gladwell gives a pretty solid counterpoint even closer to the end of the book. He explains that more precise bombing lowers the threshold we have to cross to order an airstrike. So, we're tempted to conduct airstrikes even more often. Just days ago we read a story of a US airstrike in Afghanistan that killed up to ten civilians. So, did Hansell really win? Maybe we aren't carpet bombing cities like LeMay's raids on Japan, but we're definitely not clinical.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was entertaining and thought-provoking. But almost every time I wanted to hear some additional context about something, Gladwell would move along to the next item. And sometimes he would move on to a long tangent, explaining something that didn't really feel like it progressed the thesis of the book along.
All that being said, Gladwell is a truly gifted author. He made me think, use my brain, and come to conclusions about what he was saying. As much as I would have loved to see a more robust text, I couldn't produce anything superior. This book is worth a listen, but it would be more worth your time if you borrowed it or listened to it for free.