Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War
by Mark Bowden

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Book Reviews of Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War

Book Review: WOW!!!
Summary: 5 Stars

In the back of Bowden's book, there is a complete bibliography from which he attained all his information. Mark Bowden does not present any new information about the Mogadishu incident, although he does tell the story from the soldiers perspective which is a different approach than other works have done. Throughout the novel, there are no citations from other works except from the material he gathered through interviews and recorded audio. The lack of footnotes and citations throughout the novel guarantees easy and enjoyable reading. Bowden bases most of his work on interviews and government documents and then uses his journalistic and creative writing style to tell a captivating story. He documents how he was able to obtain the sources, who he interviewed, what books and articles he referred to, and where he got the radio tapes. Because of these documented sources, it is hard to question the validity of the information he presents you. Bowden accomplishes his purpose in writing the novel because he gives an accurate and in-depth description of the battle through the soldiers perspective while maintaining a story which is fun and worth the time reading.

Mark Bowden stays true to his thesis throughout Black Hawk Down, and presents the audience with a book that you do not want to put down. The book is non-stop action that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The novel jumps around from different people's perspective throughout the story, yet his excellent writing skill does not allow you to be confused or lost. He also provides background information about the soldiers and characters when they are first introduced and when he refers to them later in the story. Bowden provided a lot of information about the military and used acronyms for names throughout the story. He used the military style of communicating when he wrote the book. However, Bowden does a superb job in providing the audience with the definition of the acronyms stood for. He defined them in the back of the book where there is an index and by putting the definition in parenthesis next to the acronym. This method of writing almost made it feel as if the reader was actually hearing the radio communications and conversations when it happened. Bowden also provided a few maps in the book to visually show where the battle took place and what the routes of the forces were. The implication of maps made it easier to follow and understand the circumstances better. There are pictures in the back of the novel showing some of the soldiers and equipment they used during the operation.

Mark Bowden wrote the novel Black Hawk Down with the purpose of making an enjoyable and easy to read novel from the soldiers perspective while providing an accurate first hand account of the events in Mogadishu, Somalia on October 3, 1993. Because Bowden used his journalistic writing abilities, his first hand interviews, and actual recordings of audio transmissions, this allowed him to write such a detailed and successful novel. Since the author is a journalist and not a historian, he wrote a popular history story about an event that happened three years before the book was published. Black Hawk Down, which sells for about fourteen dollars, is an excellent book filled with accurate information and is worth reading by anyone interested in modern warfare or the military.

Summary of Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War

East Africa Books

• Books > Subjects > History > Africa
• Military > Strategy
• United States
• World