The Bomber Mafia: A Tale of Innovation and Obsession

(Paperback)

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A riveting exploration of the unforeseen consequences of technological disruption, from the no.1 international bestselling author What is the price of progress In this tale of innovation and obsession Gladwell revisits one of the bloodiest attacks of the Second World War to show what happens when technological inventions slip out of our control. Weaving together the stories of a group of renegade pilots, the ruthless bomber commander of the US Air Force, a reclusive Dutch genius and his homemade computer, a team of pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard and Winston Churchill's forbidding best friend, The Bomber Mafia invites us to rethink the moral certainties, good intentions and unforeseen consequences that so often accompany shiny new inventions.

Reviews

A parable written for the age of technological disruption . . . brilliantly told -- James McConnachie * Sunday Times *
Remarkable . . . a work of art . . . one puts this book down shaking one's head at the folly and human cost of it all -- Paul Kennedy * Wall Street Journal *
Gripping . . . in Gladwell's deft hands, the Air Force generals of World War II come back to life as the stirring 20th-century equivalent of Adm. Horatio Nelson and his band of audacious captains from the age of fighting sail . . . Gladwell is a wonderful storyteller -- Thomas E. Ricks * The New York Times *
Impassioned . . . engagingly written -- Saul David * Telegraph *
Riveting . . .The Bomber Mafia looks at one of the greatest moral challenges of the Second World War -- Michael Lewis * author of The Fifth Risk *
Told with the muscular, driving narrative and fizzingly charismatic (real-life) characters of a movie -- Ed Grenby * Radio Times *
A thought-provoking, accessible account of how people respond to difficult choices in difficult times . . . Gladwell's easy conversational style works well . . . his portraits of individuals are compelling -- Diana Preston * Washington Post *
Unexpected empathy . . . fabulistic energy * Esquire *
Lively, engaging . . . a fascinating story -- Gerard DeGroot * The Times *
Important and characteristically readable . . . Gladwell is possibly the most confident storyteller in non-fiction. He always knows exactly where he is going, and he takes you with him in pleasure and comfort. -- Simon Kuper * New Statesman *
Gladwell's eloquence and flair for lateral thinking make for a compelling read -- Simon Griffith * Mail on Sunday *

Author Bio

Malcolm Gladwell is the author of six international bestsellers- The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, David and Goliath and most recently, Talking to Strangers. He is the host of the podcast Revisionist History, a staff writer at The New Yorker, and co-founder of the audio company Pushkin Industries. He graduated from the University of Toronto, Trinity College, with a degree in history. Gladwell was born in England and grew up in rural Ontario. He lives in New York.