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Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War Hardcover – February 10, 1999

by Mark Bowden (Author)

1,025 customer reviews

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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. 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 performs extraordinary feats of valor.

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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

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.

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Product details

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press; 1 edition (February 10, 1999)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0871137380
ISBN-13: 978-0871137388
Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
Average Customer Review: 1,025 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #232,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #45 in Books > History > Africa > Central Africa
- #63 in Books > History > Africa > East Africa
- #416 in Books > History > Military > Intelligence & Espionage

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Top customer reviews

It was riveting, and it is a true story ...

ByBumbleBear10on August 1, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

It was riveting, and it is a true story. I just about couldn't stop reading it so as to get my other daily things done. It is very well written. This should be required reading for anyone in the U.S. government, about what can go wrong when the U.S. gets involved in places that can't be fixed.

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Engaging and Informative

ByD. Witton June 5, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

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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Especially relevant to our pursuit of bin Laden.

Bymckosson October 29, 2001

Format: Mass Market PaperbackVerified Purchase

The amazing story of the 1993 battle in Mogadishu, Somalia in which 18 US soldiers were killed, along with many 100's of Somali's presumed dead. This story is very relevant to the current situation (in October 2001) where we are trying to use traditional military action to capture a single person. In 1993, we were trying to apprehend "warlord" Mohamed Farrah Aidid - and today we are going after Osama bin Laden.
Our critical mistake in this episode was drastically underestimating the enemy. While we had every advantage in terms of technology and military hardware, the Somali's had on their side sheer numbers of fighters as well as their determined willingness to fight regardless of the dangers to their own lives. Time and again, Somali fighters would put themselves in direct fire of the US forces to attack, usually being killed in the process. Another Somali fighter would then pick up their weapon and take their place. This went on for 12 to 18 hours in a house-to-house street battle that kept the relatively small force of Americans pinned down all night.
Like the movies Saving Private Ryan and Three Kings this book depicts a very graphic image of war and battle. While I do believe that there are things we need to be willing to fight for, every one of us needs to understand the type of situation we are asking our military to go in to.

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removes the romance of combat

BySouthern manon June 6, 2000

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Many moves and books about combat have an almost abstract atmosphere. The participants casually think about great philosophy or remember their early lives while trying to kill each other.
Black Hawk Down, on the other hand, treats combat as a very intense, extraordinarily terrifying experience. The combatants are solely concerned with keeping themselves and their comrades alive for as long as possible.
I have had the good fortune never to be involved in a combat situation and now I hope like hell that I never do.
It's a very good book. I highly recommend it, provided that you don't start reading it within two hours of the time you plan to go to sleep. You'll glance at the clock to realise that five hours have passed.
After reading the book, I understand why people volunteer to go into the armed forces. However, it's probably a good idea for the recruiters to provide a copy of this book to a prospective volunteer, just to make sure that the person knows what he or she is signing up for.

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A story I really didn't know before (and wish I had)

ByDomenico BettinelliVINE VOICEon July 16, 2001

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is the non-fiction account of the battle in Somalia in 1993 that left 12 soldiers dead as told from the perspective of those who were there. I learned much about the conflict, e.g. I hadn't known that Delta Force was one of the primary forces involved. But I did see how political factors weighed against the soldiers in doing their duty, just as they did in Vietnam. It's also an excellent account of what the future of modern warfare will look like, with small units of soldiers fighting in urban environments against foes that are hard to distinguish from innocents. While painful to read, because we know the outcome, it was instructive and sobering. I saw the gung-ho, bloodthirsty attitude of the Rangers change to fear then determination and finally just a will to survive and to save their comrades. This is the face of courage and bravery. I recommend it and look forward to the movie.

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Wow this is an event that makes you think

ByLanetteHon August 29, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This book is an eye opener. I saw the movie many years ago and didn't really comprehend the magnitude of what happened in that battle...maybe I was too young when the movie was released. The battle described by the author from the point of view of the Rangers and Delta Force is written in a way I've never experienced before in a book. Fast moving action, with the personal experiences of various soldiers. It is unbelievable that so much carnage could happen in such a relatively short time, even though this battle definitely felt like an eternity to the guys who were fighting the good fight. Once again a sad story about the cost of good vs. evil, and the amazing people who are willing to give up everything to fight that fight. I would recommend this book to anyone who appreciates this type of book, it is truly gripping and it has had such an effect on me that I am constantly shopping for more of the same :)