Most military thinkers in the years leading up to World War II saw the airplane as an afterthought. But a small band of idealistic strategists, the "Bomber Mafia," asked: What if precision bombing could cripple the enemy and make war far less lethal? Instead, the March 10, 1945 attack on Tokyo was the most catastrophic bombing in history. Expanding on a discussion begun in his podcast Revisionist History, Malcolm Gladwell profiles Curtis LeMay, whose Machiavellian struggle with fellow general Haywood Hansell paved the way for scorched-earth tactics in Japan that remain controversial today.

"A ruminative, anecdotal account of what led up to the deadliest air raid of WWII…. Gladwell provides plenty of colorful details and poses intriguing questions.'"—Publishers Weekly