The Bomber Mafia

Malcolm Gladwell · first published 2021 · ISBN 9780316296816

Gladwell reconstructs the World War II conflict between precision bombing advocates and those, like General Curtis LeMay, who chose brutal firebombing. He traces the ideas of a Dutch engineer, the calculations of Harvard chemists, and the deadliest night in human warfare (Tokyo, 1945). The book grapples with whether LeMay's scorched-earth tactics, though horrific, may have prevented an even costlier invasion of Japan.