Free Ebook Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War, by Mark Bowden
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Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War, by Mark Bowden
Free Ebook Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War, by Mark Bowden
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Already a classic of war reporting and now reissued as a Grove Press paperback, Black Hawk Down is Mark Bowden’s brilliant account of the longest sustained firefight involving American troops since the Vietnam War. On October 3, 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 wounded.
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.
- Sales Rank: #38910 in eBooks
- Published on: 2010-04-01
- Released on: 2010-04-01
- Format: Kindle eBook
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
From Publishers Weekly
This is military writing at its breathless best. Bowden (Bringing the Heat) has used his journalistic skills to find and interview key participants on both sides of the October 1993 raid into the heart of Mogadishu, Somalia, a raid that quickly became the most intensive close combat Americans have engaged in since the Vietnam War. But Bowden's gripping narrative of the fighting is only a framework for an examination of the internal dynamics of America's elite forces and a critique of the philosophy of sending such high-tech units into combat with minimal support. He sees the Mogadishu engagement as a portent of a disturbing future. The soldiers' mission was to seize two lieutenants of a powerful Somali warlord. Despite all their preparation and training, the mission unraveled and they found themselves fighting ad hoc battles in ad hoc groups. Eschewing the post facto rationalization that characterizes so much military journalism, Bowden presents snapshots of the chaos at the heart of combat. On page after page, in vignette after vignette, he reminds us that war is about breaking things and killing people. In Mogadishu that day, there was no room for elaborate rules of engagement. In the end, it was a task force of unglamorous "straight-leg" infantry that saved the trapped raiders. Did the U.S. err by creating elite forces that are too small to sustain the attrition of modern combat? That's one of the key questions Bowden raises in a gripping account of combat that merits thoughtful reading by anyone concerned with the future course of the country's military strategy and its relationship to foreign policy.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Based on a series that won the Hal Boyle Award for best foreign reporting from the Overseas Press Club after appearing in the Philadelphia Inquirer, this book details the American assault on Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993. A 75,000-copy first printing.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
STRUCTURALLY UNSOUND, BUT ENJOYABLE OVERALL
By Kyle A.H.
Bowden's book is written in the kind of language you would expect from a traditional journalist. He is clear, concise, and does not bog his language down in artistic flourish. In fact, in his Afterward he claims to be proud of this straightforwardness with the reader; this despite it garnering him a slight barb from one particular reviewer he mentions.
However, it must be said that the structure of the book is a little messy. The number of individuals whose points of view Bowden includes can be daunting to sift through. I did not even bother to count the POVs he puts down on paper, but the reader should be aware there is no centralized perspective to go back to for reference. The author does not inject himself into the story (e.g. "And then I interviewed this person who said..."), and ordinarily that is fine. But, with a book showcasing the perspectives of so many people -- from lowly soldiers, to the their families, to commanders, to politicians -- it is difficult to sort through who is who and why any particular person is relevant. What makes it worse is that Bowden doesn't really offer any breaks for a reader to register a transition from one person's POV to another. Unfortunately, this problem hampers the flow of the story as the reader, at times, may be forced to backtrack just to refresh his or her memory on who is who. To be fair, Bowden interviewed countless individuals and wanted to give a good many of them their due. I have no doubt he left out many of POVs despite deep reservation. Still, none of this matters if the reader is not discouraged by such things. I was still able to jog through the book at a brisk and enjoyable pace in spite of this road block.
Another important note: this book corresponds poorly with the eponymous movie. The reader will find many of the characters in the movie are composites of actual people Bowden describes in the book. Not to mention the movie glosses over some of the uglier aspects of war (e.g. in the book, Bowden writes the U.S. Rangers eventually start shooting anything and everything in their path, including a large number of unarmed civilians). So, if you are ready for a dose of reality, read the book and drop your jaw.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Classic Account in Military History
By A dad
I've seen the movie, read the book and listened to the audiobook. My favorite was the audiobook, by far. Unfortunately, movies almost always include scenes that aren't technically correct. But the audiobook had a secret weapon, namely Joe Morton, the narrator. Morton was the real thing, and this is one of those very rare cases where the narrator is so good and appropriate that it makes a good book into classic high art.
There is a side to this story that we didn't know at the time the book was published. The earlier attacks on our forces had al-Qaeda behind them. They were meticulously planned well in advance. After that experience, the Clinton administration got our forces out of there. This was supported in our media and presidential ratings went up. It's important to understand the conflict in context.
The story itself, not the movie, is technically correct and superb. In it, we can see the sacrifice and bravery of our troops as well as the reality of Mogadishu and fearlessness of the fighters there. The reckless fighting spirit of Mogadishuans was enhanced with khat, a very important drug in their tribal society. Such a place with a culture of hospitality unknown to the West had become a living hell, and it was worse in areas outside that city.
In particular we get the story within the story about the survival of Mike Durant. He was a Chief Warrant Officer 3 at the time, serving in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. This suspenseful account resulted in a partial silver lining when he was released after eleven days in captivity.
Military historians will continue to laud this story for its richness in geopolitics, technical excellence, usefulness for teaching military principles, survival credits, esprit de corps and Joe Morton's performance. I recommend this audiobook without reservation.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Engaging and Informative
By D. Witt
I read Black Hawk Down with a group of four other people as a part of a literature discussion. Most, if not all, of them had seen the film already, but I had not. I had a little trouble keeping up with the many character names at the beginning of the book, but I settled in about a third of the way through. This is, of course, a violent book, made more intense because of the fact that it all really happened, and the language and subject matter of fighting men under stress is a constant. I can't imagine being in the situation in which these soldiers found themselves. Bowden also goes beyond the battlefield to look at the politics involved before, during, and after the situation: if you are interested in that subject, the material after the end of the story (author interview, etc.) is worth reading.
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