Rating: 
Summary: Vivid
Review: Perhaps that would be the best term used to describe this book. It is vivid, not only to the mind's eye, but to all of the various assets of the imagination. The smell of cordite in the air, the sound of 7.62 JHP rounds slapping into the concrete overhead, the cries for help from the wounded... Bowden forms all of these effects the audio-visual cocaophony that is Black Hawk Down. The story itself has been brought to the visual limelight by the popular film, which more or less stays true to the book, but the true essense of the battle cannot be captured without reading through this work. The orderly, carefully planned mission of the preperation stages quickly descend into a confusing multi-dimensional array of automatic gunfire, downed helicopters, and death. The organization of the book quickly breaks down, and any pretenses of order fade into chaos. It is extremely difficult to keep track of the locations and actions of the various involved parties, which is only marginally helped by the maps here and there. But this all serves to the benefit of the book's mood, highliting the insanity and the absolute surging disorder of battle. Bowden is a journalist, and so captures the spirit of battle unlike a soldier. Where old soldiers recount their wars with a sense of trained recognition and objective perspective, Bowden sees his Etheopian urban jungle as a monstrous laberynth of fire, a horrorific carnval of insanity. There is no calm, academic understanding and analysis to it in the end. It is just the visceral impact of Kalashnikov buttstock in your face, and a short, stunned denumont. An explosion, and the erie, soundless aftermath. Modern war depicted at its best.
Rating:
Summary: Blackhawk Down
Review: The book Blackhawk Down written by Mark Bowden is a great read. It combines a wonderful story of courage with an action packed plot, which makes this book on of the best i've ever read. The story is about a raid on a terrorist and the raid goes bad. The Blackhawk crew gets shot down. The story is about the survival of the Blackhawk crew and the special forces trying to survive and beeting the odds. I would recomend this book to anyone who likes action filled books and or war stories.
Rating:
Summary: brutal honesty
Review: ill start of by saying that this is simply an incredible book which portrays war for what it really is -- brutal and ulgy. war is where people from different nations go to kill each other and destroy the others structures. its all about attempting imposing your will upon the other side. this is what war is all about and this is how it should be portrayed. mr. bowden does an excellent job at creating a vivid account of what happened in 3 october 1993 and this is proven thorough his research and details. if you are interested in infantry combat or forgien policy, i highly recommend this book. be warned though, this book is a very accurate protrayal of modern war and mr. bowden makes no attempt to glorify the material of blackhawk down. it is brutal, violent, and honest. and because of that this is one of my favoriate books period, and it earns every star i gave it, and then some.
Rating: 
Summary: Misses the Mark
Review: I feel almost unpatriotic in giving Black Hawk less than a 5 star rating. However, this story just did not work for me. I consider it FAR from the military classic others apparently do. By now, most of us know the drill: this is the account of the disastrous incursion to Somalia in early 1993 to capture a warlord. 18 GIs were killed in action and many more wounded. Since this took place very early in the Clinton Administration, I've always wondered if the outgoing George Bush didn't send in the original US troops as a "parting present" to the incoming President. BH is not a first hand account but reconstructed through interviews and solid research. The author had the obvious cooperation of the military in so doing but the result is nonetheless second hand, reconstructed and even muddled. I found it difficult to keep track of the men. Also, given the small geographic scope of the action, I found it even harder to tell where all the units were. As so often happens in military books, MAPS are inadequate. BH soars when it concentrates on individuals, their backgrounds, barracks life, families, wives and girl friends back home. Some of the ladies left behind are the most compelling characters in BH, especially those whose guys don't return.
This may be the lowest rating of the 405 reviews of BH, but one has to call shots as he sees them. I'll be the first to admit that amazon readers may wish to keep scrolling down. This review is NO reflection on the brave Rangers, "D boys" and 10th Division troops who fought and died in this engagement.
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Summary: The best account ground warfare.
Review: When I purchased this book I had already seen the movie so I wanted to compare the book to the movie see how it is. Well when I started reading I couldn't stop till it was over. The attention to detail and graphic situations makes this book comparable to the best Vietnam books. It gives points of view from both our side and the Miltia that was fighting us. Definitly Reccomended reading.
Rating:
Summary: An Essential Read
Review: Mark Bowden delivers a fine story that captures the heroism, brutality, and emotions of modern war. Black Hawk Down, while giving truth to the horrific firefight at Mog in '93, also gives a look-see into the lives of the men of Task Force Ranger, and the comaraderie they shared as a band of brothers in Somalia.Bowden, who had to verbally illustrate a battle where several different crises were occuring on the ground (example, the two Black Hawk choppers shot down, the Lost Convoy, the rescue mission working up at Mog Airport, just to name a few), mixes it all together into one fast-paced, awesome yet true story. This narrative of ground warfare is in a league of war novels such as "We Were Soldiers Once...and Young"(another excellent read, by the way). I have yet to see the film by Ridley Scott, but when I do, it'll have to be pretty darn good to beat this fantastic novel. Task Force Ranger should be proud of Mr. Bowden for making such a fine illustration of their true honor and sacrifice.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent and well-balanced
Review: I read the book, then saw the movie, and liked them both, if 'like' is a word for such punishment. But, the book does not set out to provide escapist fare, nor to amuse. The book is stark and balanced. I raises far more questions than it answers, and they are questions we need to ponder. This is not the book for those who are hooked on superheroes that never get hurt. This book hurts. But anyone who is willing to think a little about what it means to put lives on the line should read this book. It justly deserves all the praise it has received.
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Summary: Put on the coffee and expect to stay up late
Review: A detailed well referenced play-by-play account of the battle in Somalia. If you want the details, this is the book to get. The most impressive aspect of this book is that most of the content is unoriginal! What? That's right. If you look at Bowden's extensive citations at the end of the book and read about his composing of the book in the afterward, you will understand. Bowden utilized the tapes of the radio transmissions and extensive interviews with the soldiers involved, to recreate the details accurately even down to the actual words that were spoken. It doesn't get any better than this.
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Summary: What Everyone Should Know: What They Do, Why They Do It
Review: As ex-military, I think every American should read "Blackhawk Down" by Mark Bowden. It's the true story of how the young men and women in the Armed Forces put their lives on the line. It tells you what they do, as seen through the example of a battle in Somalia. I highly recommend this book. And, taking the recommendation of another reader, I read "West Point: Character, Leadership..." by Norman Thomas Remick. Every American, especially worried Moms and Dads who have kids in the armed forces who are potentially in harms way, should read this book, also. It tells you why our noble young men and women in the armed forces do what they do. As a corollary to Mark Bowden's great book, "Blackhawk Down", it's revealing and consoling.
Rating:
Summary: Just Short!
Review: I enjoyed reading Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down immensely. It is a very well researched, fast paced account of the United States military's doomed battle in Somalia. Bowden is a great story- teller and a meticulous researcher and I enjoy his books very much. However, I feel that in his recreation he left two very important points out of the story. I might be nit-picking, but I think that these two details are pretty important to the story. I do not claim to be a military or world affairs expert, but I read Black Hawk Down, watched the movie, and watched the documentary about the battle on the History Channel. In the documentary on the History channel, they raised these two points I am talking about. First of all, Bowden makes it seem like the raid on Aidide's compound came about because of one specific event, the capture of Aidide's money man by the United States. The truth of the matter is that the tensions between the US and Aidide built for several months before they exploded into this battle in Mogadishu. Originally, there was a terrible famine in Somalia and the UN was sent in to bring food and supplies to help the citizens of Somalia. Somalia's most notorious war-lord, Mohammed Farah Aidide, and his men began to intercept UN food shipments at gun point and take them for themselves, leaving the people of Somalia to die of starvation. This is where the US involvement came into play. The US committed troops to track down Aidide and after a series of raids they managed to capture a few of his top men, but not him. Over the course of several weeks tensions mounted while the raids were taking place. Aidide had the Somalis whipped into a frenzy with his diatribes against the United States. After the UN leveled a building in which several of Aidide's top generals were meeting killing them and several innocent civilians without any questions asked, the Somalis wanted American blood. I do not think that Bowden did as good a job as he could have in explaining the background events that led up to the battle in "Mog." After seeing the documentary on the history channel I had a better idea of what actually happened. Secondly, Bowden fails to mention one very interesting tidbit of information. Aidide's own son was part of the peacekeeping force sent to Somalia by the United States. He task, as assigned by the government, was to hunt and kill his own father. After Aidide's assassination, a few years after the "Black Hawk Down" incident, his son returned to Somalia to take his father's place in leading his band of Somali thugs. Personally, I thought this would have made for a very interesting subplot. On the whole, Black Hawk Down is a fantastic book that I would recommend to anyone that likes a fast-paced real life drama.
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