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Loading... Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War (original 1999; edition 2000)by Mark Bowden
Work InformationBlack Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War by Mark Bowden (1999)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. A gripping recounting of a real-life modern military operation that went sideways, where a small, elite force of US soldiers fought a large number of Somali militia and civilians on urban terrain. There is bravery and brutality, professionalism and incompetence. The book was better than the movie, filling in details of the background and feelings of individual soldiers making their stories more powerful. The difference in culture between the Rangers and Delta Force and how it affected their ability to work together was really interesting, and having several Somali points-of-view made for a good contrast. The last-ditch defense of a downed helicopter, and the terrible gauntlet run by vehicles trying to drive through the city stick in my mind. ( ) Black Hawk Down, the call signal which ushered in a nightmarish fiasco for US Military forces in Somalia almost a century after Custer's deplorable mismanagement at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Similarities in both catastrophes are astounding and telling-an arrogant command staff is more lethal than sprayed fire from a frontline enemy. What went wrong and why? Bowden answers these very uncomfortable questions in this book. It reads like a postmortem exculpation of the men on the ground while cross examining and damning the command staff on the basis of substantial evidence. 'Black Hawk Down'-a must read for all leaders wishing to avoid cataclysmic errors which can spell the end of multiple careers and lives. This is an amazingly detailed account. the author posits that it may be the most accurate account of a real battle ever written, and he probably correct. Using the transcripts of the audio chatter, and hundreds of interviews of rangers, deltas, seals, and even Somalis Bowden paints one of the most realistic account of this savage operation. Has the adaptationHas as a student's study guideAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
History.
Military.
Nonfiction.
HTML:Already a classic of war reporting and now reissued as a Grove Press paperback, Black Hawk Down is Mark Bowdenâ??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), Bowdenâ??s minute-by-minute narrative is one of the most exciting accounts of modern combat ever writtenâ??a riveting story that captures the heroism, courage, and brutality o No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)967.73053History and Geography Africa Central Africa Somalia & Djibouti SomaliaLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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