Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War [Paperback]

Mark Bowden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 13, 2010

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.

Editorial Reviews

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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press; Reissue edition (April 13, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080214473X
• ISBN-13: 978-0802144737
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1.1 x 8.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (767 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #5 in Books > History > Africa > East Africa
  • #42 in Books > History > Military > Strategy

More About the Author

Mark Bowden is the bestselling author of Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War, as well as The Best Game Ever, Bringing the Heat, Killing Pablo, and Guests of the Ayatollah. He reported at The Philadelphia Inquirer for twenty years and now writes for Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, and other magazines. He lives in Oxford, Pennsylvania.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

144 of 155 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Bowden Captures the Horror of Modern Urban Warfare April 16, 1999

By [e-mail]

Format:Hardcover

So you've never been in combat. Come to Mogadishu. Maybe you're the rear detachment company clerk who was called forward due to an injury. Join the D-Boys and Rangers on a quick raid gone wrong. Fast-rope into a crowded African city on a Sunday afternoon and smell, taste, hear, and touch the reality of true combat. Test your soul; what would you do if you were surrounded by thousands of deadly Somalis only miles from safety in the heart of their territory and there is a BLACK HAWK DOWN? Mark Bowden has taken his award winning series of newspaper articles written for the Philadelphia Inquirer and turned them into a must-read classic for all military professionals. He definitely took a modest assignment and overachieved; we are the beneficiaries. His detailed account of the Battle of the Black Sea (Mogadishu: 3-4 October 1993) is destined to occupy the bookshelves of every military professional or would-be warrior. Devour and enjoy Black Hawk Down. This book is not about your Grandfather or Father's war. This is about modern war involving many soldiers still on active duty. It's not about destroying tanks from 3,000 meters away. It's about close combat when the rules of engagement cease to have relevance and survival requires immediate instinctive response. This book is a crystal ball on future urban warfare and a cautionary note for contentious peacekeeping operations. The devil is in the details and you will not want for details. The gore, frustrations, disagreements, mistrusts, illusions, misconceptions, ramifications, difficulties, cowardice, and heroics are displayed for all to see. Sure there is some hype and inaccuracy, but no interesting microscopic analysis can exist without such blemishes.... Seldom has such a discreet tactical operation had such far-reaching strategic consequences. U.S forces in Bosnia can attribute restrictive force protection measures to this battle's legacy. Future strategic, operational, and tactical leaders who do not assimilate the lessons of Mogadishu are in danger of repeating this tragic history. I strongly recommend this book. Learn what Delta Sergeants Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon did to earn the only Medals of Honor awarded for actions during the past quarter-century. Set aside a Sunday afternoon or a long night for continuous consumption. You will not want to put this book down once you start reading it. Read more ›

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Objective History of Soldiers who were Down but not Out August 18, 2001

By "deedawg"

Format:Mass Market Paperback

If Black Hawk Down was not nonfiction, I wouldn't have believed it. The heroic tale of a group of just over 100 U.S. Rangers, DELTA operators, and SEALs in the 15+ hour non-stop battle of their lives to survive against thousands of agressive,armed Somali militia should be near impossible for anyone to put down who has an interest in military history. However, the main strength of the book is delivered by the author Mark Bowden himself. As an investigative reporter, he takes pains not to play the role of a monday morning armchair quarterback, and as a result simply reports the facts surrounding the October 3-4, 1993 "Battle of the Black Sea" in Mogadishu. Throughout the book, I began seeking the military commanders or politicians who should be "blamed" for this mission gone so bad. Bowden doesn't provide the answers, but instead lets the reader come to his or her own conclusions. His research of first hand source material, documentation of his sources, and reliance on only first hand interviews is first rate and qualifies this book as an excellent work of History, not merely a piece of investigative journalism.

47 of 50 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Exhausting, informative, thorough, demanding. March 14, 2002

By Christopher Wanko

Format:Paperback

I read a fair amount of historical non-fiction and was taught throughout high school to think critically when reading. Check sources, check author's tone, point of the writing, points of view being used, context, and so forth. Apparently Mark Bowden, the author, comes from the same school of thought. He writes a thorough and genuine account of a sadly-ignored incident in US history.

I can recall the newspaper accounts of the time, wondering what we were doing there and why, after taking such incredible beatings, we were leaving. Rather than do the research to find out why, Mr. Bowden has compiled this book, which rightfully deserves its place on any historian's bookshelf.

Bowden's accounting of the events and context are flawless. His research is uncommonly thorough, and given the opportunity to write the first really comprehensive accounting of the events, he makes the most of it. His attention to detail, his recreation of the timeline, and his notes are worthy of emulation by future students of history.

All that is nothing without good writing, and Bowden keeps a reader locked into the story. As hard as some of it is to read because of the imagery and concomitant emotional responses, Bowden leads you through the battles at ground level, at eye level from helicopter platforms, at screen level from command centers. At the end of the book one wonders how you survive the reading; how much worse to have been there in it? I was exhausted mentally, and therein lies the demanding aspect of the book.

So much goes on, so many players become involved, that a cheet sheet and glossary of some terms would've helped immensely. Even a cast of characters would've been of some utility, but eventually, I just bore down and focused.... Some questions were answered in the notes, others reveal their answers upon later reflection.

In all, I daresay adding my review to the nearly 400 others won't make someone any more inclined to buy a 5-star book if they've ignored the other 399 reviewers, but this is my review and I'm sticking to it. Read more ›

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars You can't put "Black Hawk Down." January 14, 2002

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

I served 12 years in the Air Force as a Combat Controller (AF Special Forces) and was last assigned to the 23rd Special Tactics Squadrons at Hurlburt Field in Florida. Are motto, "First There, Last Out", pretty much sums up what we did. I have never read a book that more accurately captures the sentiment that a soldier never leaves a man (generic for person) behind...NEVER. It cost the Army 15 additional men, good men, attempting to save the soldiers in the bird that fell that day, but it was worth it. After all, try getting soldiers to fight for their country if they don't believe that their country will risk this much to save them if indeed they fall in combat. Although it has been said many times that we fight for God and country, those of us who have been in combat know that it is God and country that motivate us into battle but it is the man next to us that keeps us there, and keeps us going back in...until no one is left behind. It is for them that these brave soldiers fought and died, not for ideology or a blind sense of duty.

What had been portrayed as a series of screw-ups in the media was in actuality nothing of the sort. This book eloquently demonstrates that these soldiers accomplished every bit of their intended mission that day. The only screw-up occurred long before that day, when President Clinton, not unlike President Reagan before him, put our soldiers in harm's way without adequate support and with an untenable mission. This story shows that we can no longer afford to put our people in the middle of a target-rich environment and then shackle them to a rule of engagement that says only shoot when shot at. If a battle is waging and there are people on the rooftops, for instance, you can bet they are not there for shelter...those people are by definition combatants.... One need not wait for them to take careful aim and pip off a surface-to-air rocket as they did here. An A-130 gunship would have saved 19 lives that day. It was in the futile attempt to spare innocent lives that these soldiers were sacrificed. Some day the politicians will learn that the military is designed to kill people and break things, not to surgically extract dictators or to carefully glean the subtle nuances between combatant and "casually-dressed woman pulling an AR-15 from a basket." By the time you recognize her as a combatant, you've lost three men.

Based on a recommendation, I recently read a book called Operation Pseudo Miranda and was mortified to see another example of politicians placing soldiers (in the war on drugs) in harms way without sufficient support or proper training. Not unlike Black Hawk Down, most of them got dead for their troubles. And not unlike Black Hawk Down, you feel as though you are there and are glad you are not. Read both. Read more ›