# Black Hawk Down (1999) by Mark Bowden: the book on the 1993 battle of Mogadishu

> Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down (1999): how it was researched, what it covers about the 1993 battle in Mogadishu, its reception and the 2001 film.

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Last checked: 2026-11-12
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## The book

**Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War** was written by the American journalist **Mark Bowden** and published in the United States in February 1999 ([Black Hawk Down (book), Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_Down_(book))). It grew out of a 29-part series Bowden wrote for The Philadelphia Inquirer, which began on 16 November 1997 ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_Down_(book))).

## What it covers

The book tells the story of a raid in central Mogadishu on 3 October 1993 by US [Task Force Ranger](/en/history/battle-of-mogadishu-1993/), part of the operation to capture the leaders of [Mohamed Farrah Aidid](/en/people/mohamed-farrah-aidid/)'s faction. Two MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters were shot down, and the fighting to reach the crash sites lasted through the night into 4 October ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_Down_(book))).

It gives the background of the fall of [Siad Barre](/en/people/siad-barre/)'s government in 1991, the UN intervention and the June 1993 ambush in which 24 Pakistani UN soldiers were killed ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_Down_(book))). It ends with the aftermath: the hunt for Aidid was called off, US forces left Somalia, and the UN mission followed some months later. The wider story is on [UN intervention, 1992 to 1995](/en/history/un-intervention-1992-1995/).

## How it was researched

Bowden used US Army records, interviews with participants on both sides, including Somali residents and fighters, video from observation aircraft and recordings of radio traffic ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_Down_(book))). Much of the material on the US Delta Force came from Paul R. Howe, who was later criticised for allowing his real name to be used ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_Down_(book))).

## How it was received

The book was a finalist for the 1999 National Book Award for Nonfiction ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_Down_(book))). A New York Times review called it "a minute-by-minute account" of the battle and noted that it conveyed the siege felt by both civilians and soldiers, and the common view in the city that the Rangers caused most of the casualties ([Wikipedia, citing the New York Times](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_Down_(book))). Reviewers credited it with explaining how a humanitarian mission turned into armed conflict, a shift later called the "Mogadishu line" ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_Down_(book))).

A CNN documentary based on it later won an Emmy, and in 2001 Ridley Scott directed the film Black Hawk Down, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_Down_(book))).

## Where to read it

- Lending copy: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/blackhawkdownsto00bowd_1)
- In a library: [WorldCat](https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=Black+Hawk+Down+Bowden)

## Related pages

- [Books about Somalis, 1991 to 2005](/en/history/books-about-somalis-1991-2005/)
- [UN intervention, 1992 to 1995](/en/history/un-intervention-1992-1995/)

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