Episode · Behind the Bastards · 2025-12-04
Books mentioned on Part Two: The Men Who Might Have Killed Us All
Robert Evans: Robert and Margaret discuss the birth of the first atom bomb and how delusions about the use of air power made it a savior for a certain kind of U.S Army Air Corps officer.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Bomber Mafia
The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell is a historical non-fiction book that explores the origins of precision bombing during World War II and the eccentric, technocratic visionaries who believed air power could radically transform warfare.
Discussed“anyway, there's this group called the Bomber Mafia that Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book on, uh, that had some terrible takes.”
Where to get it
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Catch-22
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is a satirical anti-war novel set during World War II that immortalized the absurd logic of bureaucratic paradoxes and military bureaucracy.
Discussed“I read that other really good book about this by Joseph Heler.”
Where to get it
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Nuclear War
Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen is a meticulously researched work of investigative journalism that examines the catastrophic sequence of events following a theoretical nuclear attack.
Discussed“Annie Jacobson describes it in a like the aftermath of this in a harrowing way in her book Nuclear War, a scenario.”
Where to get it
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Command and Control
Command and Control by Eric Schlosser is a meticulous investigative history that examines the dangerously thin margin of error surrounding America's nuclear weapons arsenal, highlighting numerous near-misses and organizational blunders throughout the Cold War.
Discussed“In the book Command and Control, Schlloer writes, "Lame was involved in almost every aspect of the plan from selecting the mix of bombs, magnesium for high temperatures, napalm for splatter to choosing a bomb pattern that could start a firestorm."”
Where to get it
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Brighter Than A Thousand Suns
Discussed“In the book, Brighter than a Thousand Sons, Robert Young says that Slotkin's colleagues at the time described him regularly going off, quote, in search of fighting, excitement, and adventure.”
Where to get it
