Malcolm Gladwell on the origins of modern war | Big Think

The renegade WW2 pilots who tried to end war as we know it Watch the newest video from Big Think: Learn skills from the world’s top minds at Big Think Edge: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Much has been written about World War II in the seven and a half decades since it ended in 1945. But as writer Malcolm Gladwell shows with his new book “The Bomber Mafia,“ some incredible stories and perspectives have been largely forgotten. A group of pilots, led by Brigadier General Haywood Hansell, earned the derogatory nickname Bomber Mafia because of a not-widely-shared dream that they could use a few strategic bombings to lower the death toll and have a “clean“ war. “But that’s not what war ever is,“ says Gladwell. “It never has that kind of fairy tale ending.“ A few failed attempts led to a changing of the guard, the invention of napalm, and a