Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War
Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War
Mark Bowden began writing his book Black Hawk Down in 1996; three years after the Battle of the Black Sea took place in the heart of Mogadishu, Somalia. After finishing the book Bowden published it in 1999 and 2000, and it is still in print. It is 346 pages long, including the epilogue. Published by Penguin Books, Black Hawk Down costs fourteen dollars. There are no other books presently available today on this particular topic. Bowden mentions a few books that lightly touch on it, which he used for sources, but his remains the only book solely written on the battle.
Bowden has written a book based on a historical event, and his past writings include only journalism. Mark Bowden is not a historian nor does he have any military experience. Mark Bowden wrote this book to, “combine the authority of a historical narrative with the emotion of the memoir, and write a story that read like fiction but was true.”(331-332)
The book is set in Mogadishu, Somalia, and is based on events that took place in 1993. Journalist Mark Bowden uses official papers, radio transcripts, and interviews with survivors to tell the detailed story of what happened during that operation, right down to the actual dialogue. He uses many written accounts of Delta Force soldiers and had direct interviews with a couple others. He also interviewed numerous Rangers that were part of the task force. In his book, Bowden cleared up any misunderstandings in the mission that were conveyed through other authors that wrote on the subject. He does this though recorded conversations of the battle, the recorded aerial footage and an oral interview of General William F. Garrison who commanded Task Force Ranger. Bowden says, “None of the men…had a complete vision of the battle. But, their memories, combined with this documentary material, including a precise chronology, and the written accounts of the Delta operators and SEALS, made it possible for me to reconstruct the whole picture.”(344-345) In short, the book serves as a fairly accurate description of the battle.
Bowden shows a hint of prejudice when writing the novel. He favors the Delta operator or the so-called “D-Boys” as he called them. He feels that Delta held...