Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War
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Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War is a book by Mark Bowden chronicling the U.S. military attempt in 1993 to capture officials of Mohamed Farrah Aidid's militia, in Mogadishu, Somalia, and the intense battle that resulted between U.S. forces on duty with the United Nations against local militia and citizens. The book gets its name from the type of helicopter used during the raids, the UH-60 Black Hawk.
The raid quickly became the most intensive close combat Americans had engaged in since the Vietnam War. The events of the raid were later renamed the Battle of Mogadishu by international media, as opposed to the operation name, Operation Code Irene.
The book has a distinctive style: Bowden is a journalist, not a historian and wrote his account of the battle as a narrative, rather like a fiction novel but recounting actual events. Bowden achieved this through extensive research, interviews with participants from both sides of the conflicts, viewings of footage recorded by observation aircraft at the battle and from listening to recordings of the radio traffic from the battle.
The book is based on a series of articles written by Bowden for The Philadelphia Inquirer. In 2001 it was turned into a film titled Black Hawk Down, directed by Ridley Scott.
[edit] Cultural Impact
Black Hawk Down spawned a History Channel special and feature film of the same name. Black Hawk Down had a major impact on the language used to refer to US actions in Somalia. Even former President Bill Clinton now refers to the actions depicted in the book as "Black Hawk Down."
[edit] References
- Bowden, Mark (March 1999). Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War. Atlantic Monthly Press. Berkeley, California (USA). ISBN 0-87113-738-0
[edit] External links
- Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War - featuring the text of the original articles, photos, and interviews with former soldiers involved in the battle.
