Bombing mafia: dreams of humane war and bloody everyday life of the Second World War

The famous journalist and writer Malcolm Gladwell talks about a group of aviators from the United States, obsessed with the idea of ​​aimed bombing - a military doctrine, which potentially reduce the number of victims among enemy soldiers and civilians. For the 30s of the XX century, this idea was revolutionary: instead of destroying all living things on a vast territory, “bomber mafia” suggested using a new class, which could dare key military and civilian objects. Gladwell masterly interprets the fate of several heroes - the inventor of the bomb sight, American and British generals and engineers. All of them worked for the benefit of their people, but in different ways they saw the optimal way to conduct war, and on the pages of this book, the history of their confrontation becomes a tense documentary thriller