Mark Bowden - Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War

Pros: Exciting, fast paste, true

Cons: Adequate but sketchy background

Review: I caught an interview with the author, Mark Bowden, and thought the book was worth a look.
He does an excellent job of immersing the reader in America's worst fire fight since Vietnam. By obtaining hundreds of first hand accounts of both...

Pros: Well written account of bravery above and beyond the call of duty.

Cons: Only the dead have seen the end of war. Plato

The Bottom Line: Although Washington wouldn't commit, leaving Task Force Ranger to accomplish its mission with insufficient resources, the men acquitted themselves with valor and reflect honor on themselves and their country.

Review: When the first bullet goes by your head, politics and all that other &^%$ goes right out the window.

Irene, crackled over the radio headset. &^%$* Irene, relayed CWO Mike Durant to the crew and passengers of...

Pros: Simply riveting, excellent account of a strange battle.

Cons: Depressing, wears you down.

The Bottom Line: Compelling and intense, descriptive and factual. Shows the brutality of war.

Review: I received "Black Hawk Down" as a Christmas gift. Frankly, all I could remember about the 1993 battle in Mogadishu, Somalia, it was a peace keeping, UN mission gone awry. I truly had forgotten about this battle. However, through the magic reporting...

Pros: Personal accounts; intensity

Cons: Lack of details on the aftermath

Review: I don't normally buy paperbacks so this was a departure for me; one that I certainly don't regret. As a child of the Vietnam era and an avid reader of its fiction and nonfiction writing, I did not expect to find a modern-era "war" read that could...

Pros: Compelling inside look at modern warfare

Cons: Authenticity of direct quotes questionable, large cast of characters

The Bottom Line: Read it. Decide for yourself whether or not his quotes are accurate. Regardless, you'll learn about the way things work in modern war, a subject quite apropos now.

Review: Bowden's account of the Battle of the Black Sea fulfills the author's main goal, which was to write a true war story in the form of a novel. The book does read like fiction. It's compelling, captivating, and at times difficult to put down. It paints...

Pros: Well researched and written

Cons: None

The Bottom Line: Ask anyone in uniform what FUBAR means

Review: I was about eighteen when I met my first Ranger. My unit had gone down to Fort Lewis Washington to conduct training with the US Army. It was something that we looked forward to with mixed feelings. On the one hand we would have ample time to visit...

Pros: Very true-to-life, easy to identify with the solders and their situation, a real story.

Cons: It was somewhat difficult to keep up with who was where.

The Bottom Line: This book is for people into Tom Clancy-style military books, only this story is the real thing, and it hammers that home with a nailgun.

Review: I picked up this book before leaving on a trip to read on the plane. I wasn't sure if I would like the book, but it came highly recommended from a friend, so I thought I'd give it a try. I don't read very often, but I've enjoyed all of Tom Clancy's...

Pros: Amazing Detail

Cons: Shaky Conclusion

Review: "Whoever does not have the stomach for this fight, let him depart. Give him money to speed his departure since we wish not to die in that mans company. Whoever lives past today and comes home safely will raise himself every year this day, show...

Pros: A very well written well researched book

Cons: American solders killed and dragged through the streets

Review: This book is well written and thoroughly researched on the battle of Mogadshu Somalia, October 3&4 1993. Mr Bowen is a reporter, he interviewed many of the Rangers and some of the Delta Force operators (this has to be impossible because Delta Forces...

Pros: Very realistic insight into modern battlefield action.

Cons: With so many characters it's hard to get to "know" any character real well.

The Bottom Line: Especially given recent events, you owe it to yourself to read this book to get an even-handed and very realistic view of what our soldiers face on today's battlefields.

Review: Perhaps no other book takes you to the modern battlefield and immerses you in the sights and sounds, the emotions and the personalities, like Black Hawk Down does.

This is the story of an elite group of Rangers and Delta Force soldiers who...