Black Hawk down by Mark Bowden is a well written book about the U.S. military trying to capture a warlord in Somalia. This mission was supposed to be an in and out mission. Everything went to plan until two Black Hawk helicopters went down in the middle of battle. The mission suddenly changed to capturing Mohammad Farrah Aidid the warlord and his leaders to rescuing and retrieving the bodies in these helicopters.
The yard stick reflection of reality I would give this book a five. Unfortunately due to evil, war happens. Even in this violent 24 hour battle between the U.S. and Somalis militia good can happen. My favorite part of the book is the heroism of the U.S. soldiers. The soldiers keep fighting even though they want to give up. If they give up they know they are letting down the men they are fighting with. I think in society heroes are made every day such as a dad being there for his kids or a single mom raising a family. Another reason I chose this yardstick is because evil exist in the world. This book goes into much detail about the evil humans that are in this world. For example after the black hawks go down the militia start to gather and shoot at them. Hundreds of people crowd around the helicopter and pull out soldiers and brutally torture them. The crowds of people start dragging the soldiers through the street tearing off their limbs and body parts. This is a very graphic and disturbing part of the novel but it gives an in-depth look of the true evils in the world.
The next yard stick I picked is my personal beliefs. I gave this yard stick a four. I really do believe sometimes war is the only solution to evil. Mohammad Farrah the warlord was an evil man who starved and killed his people. Anytime innocent people are dying something needs to be down. The U.S. went in there to stop this atrocity and restore order. I do not disagree with the U.S. to get involved. 18 men lost their lives in this mission.
In conclusion I would recommend this book to anyone who loves Military or war novels. The part I enjoyed reading most about was each soldier’s story and the heroism each soldier gave in this battle.