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Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War |  | Author: Mark Bowden
Publisher: Signet
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
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Seller: Books Squared
Rating:  689 reviews
Sales Rank: 385200
Media: Paperback
Pages: 496
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.5
ISBN: 0451203933
Dewey Decimal Number: 967.73053
EAN: 9780451203939
ASIN: 0451203933
Publication Date: August 1, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Journalist Mark Bowden delivers a strikingly detailed account of the 1993 nightmare operation in Mogadishu that left 18 American soldiers dead and many more wounded. This early foreign-policy disaster for the Clinton administration led to the resignation of Secretary of Defense Les Aspin and a total troop withdrawal from Somalia. Bowden does not spend much time considering the context; instead he provides a moment-by-moment chronicle of what happened in the air and on the ground. His gritty narrative tells of how Rangers and elite Delta Force troops embarked on a mission to capture a pair of high-ranking deputies to warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid only to find themselves surrounded in a hostile African city. Their high-tech MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters had been shot down and a number of other miscues left them trapped through the night. Bowden describes Mogadishu as a place of Mad Max-like anarchy--implying strongly that there was never any peace for the supposed peacekeepers to keep. He makes full use of the defense bureaucracy's extensive paper trail--which includes official reports, investigations, and even radio transcripts--to describe the combat with great accuracy, right down to the actual dialogue. He supplements this with hundreds of his own interviews, turning Black Hawk Down into a completely authentic nonfiction novel, a lively page-turner that will make readers feel like they're standing beside the embattled troops. This will quickly be realized as a modern military classic. --John J. Miller
Product Description
The acclaimed New York Times bestseller Black Hawk Down is "a shocking account of modern warfare . . . gripping and horrifying" (San Francisco Chronicle)
Destined to become a classic of war reporting, Black Hawk Down is Mark Bowden's brilliant account of the longest sustained firefight involving American troops since the Vietnam War. On October 3rd, 1993, about a hundred elite U.S. soldiers were dropped by helicopter into the teeming market in the heart of Mogadishu, Somalia. Their mission was to abduct two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord and return to base. It was supposed to take an hour. Instead they found themselves pinned down through a long and terrible night fighting against thousands of heavily armed Somalis. The following morning, eighteen Americans were dead and more than seventy had been badly injured.
Drawing on interviews from both sides, army records, audiotapes, and videos (some of the material is still classified), Bowden's minute-by-minute narrative is one of the most exciting accounts of modern combat ever written--a riveting story that captures the heroism, courage, and brutality of battle.
"Black Hawk Down ranks among the best books ever written about infantry combat. . . . A descendent of books like The Killer Angels and We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young."-- Bob Shacochis, The New York Observer
"If Black Hawk Down were fiction we'd rank it up there with the best war novels: The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer, or The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien."-- Tom Walker, The Denver Post
"Stands in a league with Shelby Foote's stirring Civil War Diary, Shiloh."-- Jim Haner, The Baltimore Sun
"One of the most gripping and authoritative accounts of combat ever written."-- Kirk Spitzer, USA Today
"Amazing . . . One of the most intense, visceral reading experiences imaginable."-- The Philadelphia Inquirer
A New York Times bestseller for 14 weeks
Bowden's Black Hawk Down series, which appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer was awarded the Overseas Press Club's Hal Boyle Award for best foreign reporting
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 689
 Unbelievable! July 30, 2010
Bobby T (South Riding, VA)
Unbelievable book about one of the most harrowing war events in history. Such heroism, tragedy, and survival. What these soldiers endured is awe-inspiring. Bowden's insight in to the events of this debacle were straight on. Definitely a highly recommended war story.....
Black Hawk Down July 9, 2010
Johnny
Black Hawk Down is a great book. I have read it twice. I think the book is better than the movie.
 Invasion from Mars (The Sequel) June 18, 2010
Rarely inspired
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
My reaction; Logically , how is it sanity to be so idealistic to rationlize an attempt at correcting another Nation's anarchy, by sacrificing American lives ?. I just can't wrap my head around losing American lives to try in vain to save a recalcitrant country from it's own fate, regardless of the possible European colonial roots of this anarchy. Furthermore, I feel it's time our Elite, suffering from cracking faces ( addicted to spending and debit ) spend more time using their nobler intentions instead of using their balls. This post-cold war euphoric fog has been around for way too long and people need to start dealing with our children's future economic reality. Getting back to this book, details, angles, tons of it. This story is not a Cowboy and Indian story, it's a story of 100 or so of our American boys being thrown into a hellish meat grinder of a nightmare. Some other food for thought, No Somalia 1993, No Rwanda 1994 ?, on a whim or not commander.
Great book! Couldn't put it down. If you liked the movie, read the book. May 3, 2010
D Vance (Provo, UT)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When I read "Lone Survivor" it gave me the itch to read more non fiction war stories. I more specifically wanted to read more modern war stories that have happened in my lifetime. I really enjoyed the movie "Blackhawk Down" and remember speaking to an ex Air Guard pilot tell me a little bit about his memories of being active Air Guard at the time it happened. The author has obviously put tons of man hours into research and recounts many first hand accounts of the Rangers and Delta soldiers involved. You'd think that it was being written by a soldier that was there first hand. Very interesting that the US public really had no idea that this went on until much later...Pretty crazy considering that so many casualties were suffered.
Buy it now. April 23, 2010
JK
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
One of the best books I've ever read. Great writing + great story = a book you can't put down.
On top of all of that, it's non-fiction. You actually learn someting while being thoroughly entertained.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 689
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