Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War

Book Project Critical ReviewJames EguesBlack Hawk Down, written by Mark Bowden, a journalist, tells a story about a group of American Soldiers that were sent into Somalia on a humanitarian mission authorized by George Bush in 1992. Several of the helicopters, Black Hawks, that they brought with them into the mission were shot down and the crews were mutilated by a local militia. Every time a Black Hawk crashed, a brutal firefight broke out, resulting in deaths and injuries of American soldiers. The rescue team could not land to get the group because of local Somalis. The mission was overall a failure, the mission’s death toll was one thousand of Somalis and nineteen American Soldiers. and at the end of the book, soldiers are celebrating the return of Michael Durant, who was the pilot for the Super Six One Black Hawk. Michael Durant was the only survivor from the Super Six One group. Bowden’s work was an overall success because of his journalist writing style, point of view of the events, and organization of the story line.As I was reading, I fell into the book and could not stop reading. It felt as if I was really there in the setting of the book. The style Mark Bowden used to write the book made me fall in love with the story. The writing brings out great visualization for the reader, making them feel like they are in the book with. Journalistic writing has a more exciting feel to it rather than classic novelistic writing. I feel as if classic novels are more creative and have more visualization rather than journalistic writing, and I love how Black Hawk Down has that journalistic feel to it. Journalistic writing is usually more putting words on paper for the reader to be able to easily read and understand what is going on. I enjoy this because it is straightforward and can have good visualization and novelistic writing is more creative and the author has more time to write their book. They can easily put together a picture with words for the reader. The style of writing made me pay more attention to the book and I felt very interested in what was going on. I could not stop myself from reading and every chance I got, I would read the book. When reading a classic novelistic book, I feel like I am reading the book for class, however when I read a journalistic book, I feel free and enjoy reading the book.I enjoyed the different points of views Mark Bowden used throughout the book. Every other chapter or so, The point of view would change from the view of the soldiers to the view of local Somalis. It portrayed the difference between the two sides. It showed how an event could have a completely different effect on one side than the other. It helped me understand the different opinions and struggles between the two angles. It added some knowledge to the book and taught me somethings about the struggles the two groups faced. Everything the soldiers did had an impact on the Somalis, and everything the Somalis did had an impact on the soldiers. When a fight broke out it spanned across multiple chapters of the book and then switched to another perspective and continued onto some more chapters under that perspective. I thought this was helpful and very interesting.The organization of the story line was neat and looked clean. The book was split into a couple different sections, The Assault, and Black Hawk Down and more. The book starts with The Assault and follows with Black Hawk Down and continues with a couple more. I thought this was cool and organized. Chapters were short and chronological. Because the chapters were so short, there were tons of chapters. I did not like that feature, but other than the length of the chapters, everything was fine. Each chapter was tightly packed with dialogue and action. There were very few chapters that were not containing action and or dialogue between characters. I thought this was fun to read and helped me stay interested in the book.All in all, I loved the book Black Hawk Down, by Mark Bowden. I thought it was the perfect mixture of action and a sad story. Bowden’s work was an overall success because of his journalist writing style, point of view of the events, and organization of the story line. I loved the journalistic writing feel to the book. I enjoyed reading this book overall because I could not stop reading. I was attached to the book because of its writing style and the action. The different points of view from the soldiers and the Somalis surprised me and was very interesting. I thought the organization of the storyline was very neat and clean. I especially liked how the book was split into two parts. I would love to recommend Black Hawk Down to anyone who loves an action packed, war themed, sad story.

If there was ever a book that was a thousand times better than the movie, it's this one. So much more detail and depth. Vividly explores the context and political background of the event, the military culture of the units involved, and the story from varying perspectives. Highly recommend this book for its informative and thrilling storytelling.

Let me incorporate, by reference the many well earned accolades of the other reviews. This is an exceptional book and deserves the praise. However, there are some limitations.The first is that two men watching the same person do nothing more than walk down the street may have perceptions of the event that would make it appear that they observed two different events, the second is that some of the intimate observations of those who fought there may have been reserved during interviews and the third is that Bowden may have received some politically correct guidance from above. Finally there is something enlightening in the unedited words of some of the experienced participants.MSG Howe, a legend in the Special Forces community wrote an excellent book , Leadership and Training For the Fight. Deliberately misses the well edited polish as he uses presents personal combat experience to illustrate the key subjects he is discussing. Much of the action is on the ground as a participant in what became knows as Blackhawk Down. Howe discusses the critical differences in between the Rangers and Special Forces as they fought together. The second additional reference are the two books by Durant, In The Company of Heroes and Night Stalkers.One of the messages of the other books on the subject which directly conflicts with the conclusions of Blackhawk Down is the impact of the removal of the AC-130's from the area had on the operation. The theater commander was denied the AC-130 gunships and American armor. Bowden repeats the Washington spin that the gunships would have been ineffective in the urban environment. However, Durant notes the huge psych impact when the gunships were returned to the fight a fee days later, while he was still held prisoner. It is further reported that the Secy of Defense came down to the SF camp once they were home to apologize for the removal of the gunships and soften the blow that there would be no formal after action report.The performance of the gunships in several firefights in Afghanistan clearly demonstrated that they could work very closely with troops on the ground who were vastly outnumbered and fighting for survival within stone throwing distance. There also no doubt that the Little Birds and gunships could have been used together.Durant and Howe provide the framework to understand the tactics and mission of those on the ground and in the air on those fateful days.All three books leave the reader stunned at the quality, dedication and effectiveness of those who serve our country.

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.

Uma coisa é assistir ao filme, outra é ler e conhecer os detalhes do batalha.It's one thing to watch the film, it's another to read and learn the details of the battle.

Le gusto mucho, tenia tiempo buscándolo y le encanto, llego super rápido.

Bon produit

Delivered on time, product as described. A really good read

Contains blood and screams of the soldiers and terrorists of SNA, alongwith the pain and screaming of innocents. The way the author writes the book makes me to see like in reality . I felt that i was in that place and watching it in nearby. Pumped my blood.