Black Hawk, Down
by Mark Bowden · first published 1999
67% recommend33% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Gripping, detailed account of a 1993 US special forces operation in Mogadishu; praised for its vivid portrayal of soldiers under pressure and for clear maps that set the geopolitical context.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Late in the afternoon of Sunday, 3 October 1993, 140 elite US soldiers abseiled from helicopters into a teeming market neighbourhood in the heart of the city of Mogadishu, Somalia. Their mission was to abduct two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord and return to base. It was supposed to take them about an hour. Instead, they were pinned down through a long and terrible night in a hostile city, fighting for their lives against thousands of heavily armed Somalis. When the unit was rescued the following morning, eighteen American soldiers were dead and more than seventy badly injured. The Soma
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You would probably enjoy “Six Frigates” by Ian Toll and “Black Hawk Down” by Mark Bowden.
on “Napoleon’s Equine Strategy in 1813 (2013)” ↗Here's a list of some of my favorite books dealing with crisis: - In Thin Air - About a mountaineering expedition that turned into disaster on Mount Everest. - Black Hawk Down - The story of hundreds of US special forces trapped in Mogadishu overnight after a mission went completely sideways - Leadership in Turbulent Times - About different US presidents leading through crisis…
on “Ask HN: Literature on crisis response?” ↗…the societal implications with a sense of urgency and inevitability but also dark theater. Sure he Hollywoodizes people and quotes, not dissimilar to how the screen adaptation of Mark Bowden's superb 'Black Hawk Down' merged characters and their story arcs, or how loosely 'War Dogs' (2016) was based on Guy Lawson's 2011 Rolling Stone article [0] and 2015 book [1]. [As to 'War Dogs' and Lawson's writings, there's an…
on “The Sam Bankman-Fried empire crumbled. What happened?” ↗My reads this read, which I enjoyed: - Dead Mountain by Donnie Eichar (an examination of the Dyatlov Expedition). - Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (fantasy). - Be Useful by Arnold Schwarzenegger. - Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden. Hopefully the other responses here give me something good to read for Christmas break. :-)
on “Ask HN: What were the best books you read this year?” ↗For the military side of that analogy I highly recommend reading Black Hawk Down. It's a moving account of real-life heroes, a remarkable story of of a modern army engagement, but besides that it's also a great analogy to the business world. The actual 3-way split in the Army is…
on “Commandos, Infantry, and Police” ↗My favorite sequence of maps in a book was “Black Hawk Down”. The first chapter begins with a world map, showing Somalia, and it lays the geopolitical setting for the events. The second chapter has a map of Somalia, showing where Mogadishu is, and sets the scene…
on “Why are Soviet math textbooks so hardcore in comparison to US textbooks? (2017)” ↗The book Black Hawk Down has a lot about the Delta Force culture, especially in relation to the Rangers they worked with.
on “The First Delta Force Trainee Class” ↗I am reminded of a quote from an article[1] by Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down. It's not a nuanced response by any means, but it illustrates the consequences of a total lack of government authority. "I spent some time in Somalia in 1997, a country with no government, and encourage…
on “Why I Am An Anarchist” ↗…the books I've read in the past year: - The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War - Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders - Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda - Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War - On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society - The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York - The Yiddish Policeman's Union Each of…
on “Time management tricks I learned from years of hating Tim Ferris (of the 4 hour work week)” ↗I recall reading in "Black Hawk Down" that the helicopter pilots - and only them - got to sleep in air conditioned trailers. Piloting a helicopter is so dangerous, and the conditions in which they were doing it even more so, and so many…
on “To Keep Teenagers Alert, Schools Let Them Sleep In” ↗It's worth comparing this to "Black Hawk Down". I didn't have a problem with the film, video game, or book. To me, this Fallujah video game seems to be in really poor taste. It's probably because the US is still in Iraq.
on “Konami cancels realistic Six Days in Fallujah video game” ↗