by Mark Bowden

isbn: 0871137380
subject: Nonfiction, Military
finished: 7/11/2000

Black Hawk Down is a gripping, harrowing account of a military operation in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993. Elite US troops were supposed to kidnap two high-ranking Somalis and then get out quickly; they ended up being pinned down overnight by thousands of loosely organized militia who killed 18 American troops, injured many others, and disabled a number of helicopters, two of which went down inside the city.

During the battle most of the participants had only a very vague idea of what was going on. However, Bowden has managed to put together a nearly complete picture of the entire operation by interviewing troops, reviewing radio logs, and even visiting Mogadishu. It seemed to me that the men he interviewed must have been unusually frank; although they were certainly heroic they did lots of things during the course of the battle that I wouldn't have expected them to talk about afterwards.

There are many striking things about Black Hawk Down: the innocence of the troops, many of whom actually wanted to see combat; the brutal efficiency of the Delta Force; the viciousness of urban combat; the irony that the battle blasted to pieces the city it was trying to help; and finally, the clash of values between Americans who wanted to help without getting killed and the Somalis who resented the armed intrusion and were prepared to die fighting.

I suppose this book resonated with me because many of the troops were about my age -- this is what they did while I went to college. I highly recommend this book, especially to anyone who is tempted to think that gunfights are glamorous.