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Black Hawk Down |  | Author: Mark Bowden
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic
Category: eBooks
This item is no longer available
Rating:  688 reviews
Sales Rank: 6598
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Edition: 1
Pages: 400
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 967.73053
ASIN: B0015346OM
Publication Date: March 1, 1999
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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
Ninety-nine elite American soldiers are trapped in the middle of a hostile city.
As night falls, they are surrounded by thousands of enemy gunmen. Their wounded are bleeding to death. Their ammunition and supplies are dwindling.
This is the story of how they got there-and how they fought their way out.
This is the story of war.
Black Hawk Down drops you into a crowded marketplace in the heart of Mogadishu, Somalia with the U.S. Special Forces-and puts you in the middle of the most intense firefight American soldiers have fought since the Vietnam War.
Late in the afternoon of Sunday, October 3, 1993, the soldiers of Task Force Ranger were sent on a mission to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord and return to base. It was supposed to take them about an hour.
Instead, they were pinned down through a long and terrible night in a hostile city, locked in a desperate struggle to kill or be killed. When the unit was finally rescued the following morning, eighteen American soldiers were dead and dozens more badly injured. The Somali toll was far worse: more than five hundred killed and over a thousand wounded.
Award-winning literary journalist Mark Bowden-s dramatic narrative captures this harrowing ordeal through the eyes of the young men who fought that day. He draws on his extensive interviews of participants from both sides-as well as classified combat video and radio transcripts-to bring their stories to life. A Black Hawk pilot is shot down and besieged by an angry mob, then saved by Somalis who plan to ransom him to the local warlord. A medic desperately tries to keep his grievously wounded friend alive long enough to be evacuated-only to have him bleed to death in his arms. The company clerk, who is the butt of jokes in the barracks, rises to the task and per-forms extraordinary feats of valor.
Authoritative, gripping, and insightful, Black Hawk Down is a riveting look at the terror and exhilaration of combat, destined to become a classic of war reporting.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 688
 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.....
 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.
Murphy's Laws of Combat February 8, 2010
cpt matt (tanktown, DE)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"If it can go wrong, it will". For someone who is not a solider, author Mark Bowden does an excellent job of recapturing what happened in a tiny, squallor ridden city of Mogadishu (Somolia) on Oct 3, 1993.
The book starts off at lift off - you are in a helicopter taking off - there is no background history, no introductions, you're there with a prayer. You follow the men of Delta Force and Rangers as they get caught with one SNAFU after another in an urban battle they did not expect and cost far more than anyone would have thought. Most of the world remembers the images on TV of US dead soldiers being dragged around after the battle.
In his epilogue, Bowden says he wanted to write a history of this battle that would read like a novel. He succeeds and rightly won a Pulizter Prize for this investigative work. This story shows American soldiers at their absolute best and how such highly trained, well equipped, highly motivated soldiers could win a battle and loose the war.
In the epilogue, Bowden gives a little of the background of what went on before and why these troops were there. Unless you've read up on it (Tom Clancy's work "Battle Ready" has a lot of information about Somolia) it's a litte vague. Definate must reading for anyone with an interest in urban warfare, fighting insurgents or simply a "can't put this book down" real life thriller. Salute to the author and especially the men who fought and died in the "Mog".
Showing reviews 1-5 of 688
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