Particularize Containing Books Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War
| Title | : | Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War |
| Author | : | Mark Bowden |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 386 pages |
| Published | : | February 10th 1999 by Atlantic Monthly Press |
| Categories | : | History. Nonfiction. War. Military Fiction. Military. Military History |
Mark Bowden
Hardcover | Pages: 386 pages Rating: 4.29 | 51126 Users | 1508 Reviews
Commentary In Favor Of Books Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War
On October 3, 1993, about a hundred U.S. soldiers were dropped by helicopter into a teeming market in the heart of Mogadishu, Somalia, to abduct two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord. The action was supposed to take an hour. Instead, they spent a long and terrible night fighting thousands of armed Somalis. By morning, eighteen Americans were dead, and more than seventy badly injured. Mark Bowden's gripping narrative is one of the most exciting accounts of modern war ever written--a riveting story that captures the heroism, courage and brutality of battle.
Specify Books Supposing Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War
| Original Title: | Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War |
| ISBN: | 0871137380 (ISBN13: 9780871137388) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Setting: | Mogadishu(Somalia) |
| Literary Awards: | National Book Award Finalist for Nonfiction (1999) |
Rating Containing Books Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War
Ratings: 4.29 From 51126 Users | 1508 ReviewsCritique Containing Books Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War
I am giving the book a rating of 4.5!I have played the computer game, watched the movie at least a couple of times, and finally got the chance to read the book. Trust me, the book is so much better. This is not just a booklover speaking the movie was really good, but the book does a much better job of bringing out the human elements, insights into the Somali perspective and the aftermath of the mission.The African nation of Somalia had been ravaged by civil war and a famine had broken out. TheI haven't yet seen the film (it's in my Netflix queue) but this book is probably one of the best war memoirs written by someone who wasn't a soldier and wasn't there.Mark Bowden is a journalist who took an interest in the disastrous 1993 mission to capture the warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. A well-practiced mission executed by the elite Army Rangers and the even more elite Delta Force (the "D-boys" as the Rangers called them), they went into the heart of Mogadishu expecting to do a snatch-n-grab.
If 'Black Hawk Down' was a war novel, it would definitely have a place among the very best of that genre. Written with such intensity, this military history volume by journalist Mark Bowden, brilliantly captures every minute moments from one of the longest modern day infantry engagements. When American soldiers were dropped by helicopter into the Bakara market right in the heart of Mogadishu, Somalia on October 3 1993 for a supposedly easy in and out abduction mission they had no idea that they
[T]here was an explosion overhead. [Specialist John] Waddell looked up to see a Black Hawk twisting oddly as it flew. Hey, that birds going down! shouted one of the men across the street. [Specialist Shawn] Nelson screamed, A birds been hit! A birds been hit!Nelson had seen the whole thing. He had seen the flash of the RPG launcher and had followed the smoke trail of the grenade as it rose up at the tail of Black Hawk Super Six One, which was directly overhead. They all heard the thunderclap.
This is one of those great books that you can't put down; it reads like a novel, a fast paced narrative that can sometimes make you forget that it's a true life drama where real people die. I enjoyed reading this book and it's nice to see an honest appraisal of a stuffed-up mission, which was no fault of the men on the ground. This is a well presented account of the men of the US Army Rangers and Delta Force troops involved in a mission to capture a pair of high-ranking deputies to warlord
The movie is a gore-fest, but the book chronicles all the background intricacies that you can't find in a movie (of course). One highlight for me: When I finished reading the book, my son, who was in Iraq at the time, told me he had met one of the men who survived this incident. However, he also told me he met this man as he was being flown out for a cancer checkup. This man who had escaped this brutal attack had cancer two years later. After surviving that, he went on to go back into the Army
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