Helpful Score: 3
The true story of an American helicopter crashing in the midst of violence in Mogadishu, Somalia. The violence and tragedy make it difficult to read in parts, but it gives the reader a great insight into the politics behind the conflict. If you've ever wondered why some people in Africa are starving, despite the best efforts of the UN and countries in the West, this is a great introduction.
Better than the movie!
Very intense. If you liked the movie or are just interested in military history, here's one for you to check out.
The heroic account of a group of elite U.S. soldiers sent into Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993 as part of a U.N. peacekeeping operation. Their mission: to capture several top lieutenants of the Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, as part of a strategy to quell the civil war and famine that is ravaging the country.
Young Rangers & veteran Delta Force soldiers fight side by side against overwhelming odds. For eighteen harrowing hours, they remain trapped & wounded in the most hostile district of Mogadishu until a rescue convoy can be mounted to retrieve them. Outnumbered & surrounded, tensions flare, friends are lost, alliances are formed, & soldiers learn the true nature of war & heroism.
Young Rangers & veteran Delta Force soldiers fight side by side against overwhelming odds. For eighteen harrowing hours, they remain trapped & wounded in the most hostile district of Mogadishu until a rescue convoy can be mounted to retrieve them. Outnumbered & surrounded, tensions flare, friends are lost, alliances are formed, & soldiers learn the true nature of war & heroism.
very good book about soldiers sent to Somalia in 1993.
Black Hawk Down is Mark Bowden's 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 helicopters 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 badly injured.
What an outstanding book! Definitely better then the movie, which was very good too. Bowden show the intense courage of our American Special Forces and Rangers in the face of overwhelming odds, and proves without a shadow of a doubt that Clintons decision to pull out was a short sighted political knee-jerk reaction. The book is so accurate and the analysis so good, it is used as part of the curriculum in training troop commanders by the Army.
"Black Hawk Down ranks as one of the best books ever written about infantry combat... A descendant of books like the Killer Angels and We Were Soldiers Once... and Young..."
This was a great book. very detailed about the nightmare the pilot went through, and the heroism of those who saved him, and those who died trying. Definitely a must read.
