by Malcolm Gladwell, 2021, Kindle Version, Allen Lane

This book is about a group of Army aviators in the bomber school in Alabama. The thrust of the book is that General Haywood Hansell, who was in charge of the school, became enamored with the capabilities of the Norden bombsite and its potential for precision bombing. He felt that, by using this device, it would end the need to bomb civilian populations in order to bring the enemy into submission.

The problem with the bombsite was that, while it worked in ideal conditions, it didn’t work very well in actual high-altitude bombing situations. The bombsite was affected by cloudy conditions, high winds, turbulence, and operator error. Enter Curtis LeMay and his preference for saturation bombing which he used to great effect in Japan where it created more casualties than the two atomic bombs combined.

The book is pretty sterile in that it really doesn’t compare and contrast the two approaches in detail. Gladwell relies generally on reporting the information but doesn’t seem to draw any conclusions. In addition, he doesn’t fast forward to the current day to give the reader a overview of the impacts of the two schools of thought, given the current stage of technology. It was an interesting book to read but falls short on insight into current day warfare.