Malcolm Gladwell is a master storyteller and I will always read any book written by him, but this one seems slight. Perhaps it's because it was made for audio and I accessed the print edition. Still enjoyable, but his his least engaging book.

The Bomber Mafia is a different kind of book from the magpie mind of Malcolm Gladwell: Although there are several fascinating digressions*, this is primarily the straightforward story of the birth of the US Air Force in the aftermath of WWI, how they strove to perfect precision bombing before the American entry into WWII, and how the realities of battle can trump philosophical best intentions. I’m no aficionado of WWII trivia and there were many stories here I hadn’t heard before; much was fascinating. Still, this felt a little light for Gladwell; his conclusions a little pat. He explains in the intro that he has had a lifelong obsession with war histories (and with bombers in particular), so it might just be that Gladwell is too close-up with this material to see a bigger picture? And I see from other reviews that this was originally an audiobook (with audio clips of interviews, music, and sound effects), so that might be the better format in which to experience this? But at any rate, I was not disappointed: Gladwell cracks open some interesting nuts of history here and I was happy to squirrel it all away in my own generalist’s mind.

Gladwell was born in England, raised in rural Ontario and now lives in New York. He is the author of many non-fiction books including "Talking to Strangers", "Outliers" and The Tipping Point". This new release was originally part of his podcast and is a history book. The Bomber Mafia was the derogatory term used for a group of American military men, led in part by General Haywood Hansell, who believed that long range bombers could win the war. Moreover Hansell believed that precision bombing would shorten the war and lead to less civilian casualties. All of this was before there was an Air Force and the planes were under the command of the Navy. In contrast to this was General Curtis LeMay, who was known for both his brutality and fearlessness. The book takes us to the Marianas islands (including Guam) and the bombing of Japan. Both fascinating and educational, this short book is a wonderful recommendation for history fans. I really enjoyed it.

Basically, air power proponents were like surgeons ("cure anything and everything with a knife") and bombing proponents like neurosurgeons ("fixing God's mistakes and better than any other surgical branch"). Pretty much the history of how the military went from ground wars to air wars and theoretically narrowing the drop zones of bombs (pipe dreams). It is well researched and focuses on several specific mechanical engineers and physicists, especially those who appear lost to history.
I requested and received a free temporary ebook copy from Little, Brown and Company via NetGalley. Thank you.