Black Hawk Down

Title: Black Hawk Down

Author: Mark Bowden

Pages: 6 discs?

Genre: Non-fiction, History

Grade: B

Synopsis: This book is the heroic account of a group of  elite US soldiers that were sent into the heart of Mogadishu, Somalia as part of a U.N. peacekeeping operation in 1993.  Somalia was in the middle of a long and drawn out civil war and famine that was partially the fault of Mohamed Farrah Aidid.  The soldier's mission was to capture some of the high-ranking people working for Aidid. Things took a bad turn after one of the black hawk helicopters was shot down, and then another.  The US forces of Rangers and Delta Squads became trapped in the city for around 18 hours before an adequate rescue mission could be launched.

My Review: I've never seen the movie (although I'm interested in seeing it now), but this was a pretty intense account of a battle that did not go as scripted for the US.  From the very start when one of the officers fell out of the helicopter as the teams were being inserted (he hadn't grabbed the rappelling rope properly), the US was fighting an uphill battle.  The amount of shooting and fighting that took place in an urban setting in such a short time was pretty incredible.  The US eventually made it out of the battle, but not without casualties and injuries.

Disclaimer: This is a book about a large firefight, so there is going to be some violence and death.  However, compared to books about other military encounters, the language was less foul and crude.