Product Description
“No matter how skilled the writer of nonfiction, you are always getting the story secondhand. Here’s a chance to go right to the source. . . . These men were there.”
–MARK BOWDEN (from the Foreword)

It started as a mission to capture a Somali warlord. It turned into a disastrous urban firefight and death-defying rescue operation that shocked the world and rattled a great nation. Now the 1993 battle for Mogadishu, Somalia–the incident that was the basis of the book and film Black Hawk Down–is remembered by the men who fought and survived it. Six of the best in our military recall their brutal experiences and brave contributions in these never-before-published, firstperson accounts.

“Operation Gothic Serpent,” by Matt Eversmann: As a “chalk” leader, Eversmann was part of the first group of Rangers to “fast rope” from the Black Hawk helicopters.It was his chalk that suffered the first casualty of the battle.

“Sua Sponte: Of Their Own Accord,” by Raleigh Cash: Responsible for controlling and directing fire support for the platoon, Cash entered the raging battle in the ground convoy sent to rescue his besieged brothers in arms.

“Through My Eyes,” by Mike Kurth: One of only two African Americans in the battle, Kurth confronted his buddies’ deaths, realizing that “the only people whom I had let get anywhere near me since I was a child were gone.”

“What Was Left Behind,” by John Belman: He roped into the biggest firefight of the battle and considers some of the mistakes that were made, such as using Black Hawk helicopters to provide sniper cover.

“Be Careful What You Wish For,” by Tim Wilkinson: He was one of the Air Force pararescuemen or PJs–the highly trained specialists for whom “That Others May Live” is no catchphrase but a credo–and sums up his incomprehensible courage as “just holding up my end of the deal on a bad day.”

“On Friendship and Firefights,” by Dan Schilling: As a combat controller, he was one of the original planners for the deployment of SOF forces to Mogadishu in the spring of 1993. During the battle, he survived the initial assault and carnage of the vehicle convoys only to return to the city to rescue his two closest friends, becoming, literally, “Last Out.”

With America’s withdrawal from Somalia an oft-cited incitement to Osama bin Laden, it is imperative to revisit this seminal military mission and learn its lessons from the men who were there and, amazingly, are still here.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

A ground level look at the events of Black Hawk Down
Bowdens Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War provides the overview of events, while this book provides the personal stories of several participants.granted that these men are not professional writers, and their stories are each in their own voice, which could be jarring for some readers when the move from one mans account to the next; but that failing is also the fundamental strength of this book.these are the personal accounts of men who were there.they say what they want, and try and set the record strait where they can.as a companion book to Black Hawk Down, it really is invaluable, as it provides a fresh window on events.but even on its own, it stands as a fascinating set of accounts by men who lived through the battle of Mogadishu.

Intriguing, but not the best of reads
In October of 1993, United States military forces in Mogadishu, Somalia, performed a raid in the city in hopes of capturing two advisers to warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The targets were acquired, but during the extraction process multiple complications arose and the situation turned into an all-out battle. U.S. Rangers, Airborne and Delta Force members suddenly found themselves confronting what seemed an entire city of armed individuals. It was as if the entire city was trying to kill the soldiers.

This book is the story of the two days, October 3 and 4, when the Battle of Mogadishu took place. But more than that, this book is told by six of the soldiers themselves about a decade after the events.

As can be expected, the writing here is not the strongest. But these men are not professional writers. Many of them were, and some still are, professional soldiers.

That being said, there is much of interest here. With six different soldiers telling their stories, the reader gets six different points of view of the events from those days.

It wasn't a pretty picture for the U.S. troops, and the stories provided here show it. There are deaths of friends, nearly unimaginable decisions to be made at the snap of a bullet, civilians to worry about and much, much more.

Fans of military history will want to read this one. "The Battle of Mogadishu" wasn't written by a journalist or novelist. The soldiers themselves speak here. And that's what makes this book special.

Great Book - Blackhawk Down - From The Inside

The book collects the stories of 6 of the participants, each reporting on their view and participation in the battle.

The unifying theme is the incredible skill and courage of the troops involved and to a near equal extent the fog of war and a breakdown in the command structure.

The 6 stories come from a variety of participants from Rangers, CSAR , and others. It illustrates the compact nature of urban fighting where a single alley may present the same crossing challenge as the Rhine.

Perhaps the most depressing part of the stories were the casualties taken in the vehicles as they lumbered, often lost, through the city trying to get to their destinations. Personally I feel that this is another area where the presence of the AC-130s would have been a huge advantage in maintaining situational awareness, providing routing intelligence for the vehicles and if required, "discouraging" the enemy from obstructing intersections.

The second missing element was American armored vehicles. The extended time required to launch the UN rescue and its disorganization resulted in more deaths. The arrival at the sites for extraction (after hours and hours of preparation and delay) without sufficient vehicles to carry all of the fighters was inexcusable.

The tragedy of this battle is not just the losses we suffered, but the great encouragement this engagement gave to bin Laden. In his subsequent Declaration of War he uses his success and the hasty American retreat from Somalia here as an argument that they will prevail in their war.

From the President to the grunt it was a brutal lesson in not leaving anything behind when you go to war. Because the particular operation looked quick and simple did not mean that it was going to be quick and simple. Ammunition, water and NVG's were left behind, much the regret of most everyone involved.

The stories help bring the culture of Somalia to light. As one participant noted, everyone seemed to be armed. When we arrived they stopped shooting at each other and started shooting at us.

Perhaps some future book will more closely examine post event intel on bin Laden's participation in the events and the possibility that the meeting of the Somali Warlords was simply a trap laid for the unwary Americans.

Overall the book delivers what it promises and more. Highly recommended.

Read Black Hawk Down or In the Company of Heroes
My respect for these men is absolute and certain, however, this book is not well written. Please read "Black Hawk Down" or "In the Company of Heroes" for an accurate, devestatingly intense narrative of what really happend on that day.

Great Book
This a great book to read with very good details, told from the people that was there. ... Read more

Product Description

Since 1991 Somalia has been defined as a failing state, one that lacks an effective central government. The vacuum of power in Somalia, in turn, enabled Al Qaida and other radical Islamic organiations to find allies and refuge in there. Shay’s account shows how the presence of radical Islamic entities in the area, alongside local problems and conflicts, has turned Somalia into a focal point in the global war against terror. On June 5, 2006, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) declared victory in its struggle against the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter Terrorism (ARPCT), a coalition of U.S. backed warlords. Shortly after their victory announcement, the ICU implemented a Taliban-style radical Islamic rule. The rule of the ICU was brief. In December 2006 they were defeated by a coalition of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and Ethiopian forces.

In spite of the ICU’s defeat, internal conflict in Somalia between the ICU and the interim government of Somalia (TFG), backed by Ethiopia, is still far from concluded. Shay shows how the internal conflict may spill over into other nations, creating a larger regional theater of Jihad. He also provides some ideas on how to prevent the foundation of a new radical Islamic state that could become a haven of the Islamic terror in the Horn of Africa. This volume is instructive in demonstrating the consequences of destabiliation. It will be of interest to foreign policy analysts, regional specialists, and strategists in the war against terror.

Shaul Shay is a senior research fellow at the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herliya, Israel, and heads the Israel Defense Forces Department of History. An expert on international and Fundamentalist Islam terrorism, he has published studies and articles in Israel and abroad as well as a number of books on the subject.

Product Description
This book represents an attempt to introduce the notion of contested national identity as a theoretical framework for understanding the crisis of the nation-state in Africa, and Somalia in particular. The contributors to the volume share the perspective that one of the principal variables that inform much of the present crisis in Somalia resulted from the simultaneous co-existence of two paradigms/narratives (lineage-based versus territorial) of Somaliness that contest the meaning of people, place, and the history on which nationalism is predicated.The volume represents a major shift in the study of Somali historiography in that the contributors challenge the well-known Somali assumption that a common culture can form the basis for national solidarity regardless of the social and political contexts/realities within which the boundaries of the nation are constituted.

Informed by this perspective, the contributors to the volume argue that the current social and political crisis in Somalia must be seen as a war over contested ideas and social identities, a conflict of interpretation of who has the right to define the social boundary of Somaliness. ... Read more

Product Description
Despite massive international intervention, Somalia remains a land violently divided by class and cultural conflicts. Explanations for the civil war have generally focused on personalities, clan affiliations or Cold War competition, but this study examines issues of land and resources as important ingredients in Somali politics, and in the events that precipitated the civil war. Drawing on evidence of disputes over land rights and natural resources over several decades, the book aims to add a new dimension to the understanding of factional politics and ethnic/regional rivalries in Somalia. ... Read more

Product Description
Does statelessness necessarily mean anarchy and disorder? Clan elders, religious leaders and businessmen have worked together to provide stability and security in large parts of Somalia. Urban centres continue to suffer violence, political chaos and economic disruption. Do money, international trade and investment survive without a state?Somalia has been without a state, a Ministry of Finance, or a central bank, but the Somali Shilling was more stable during the second half of the 1990s than during the 1980s. Economic agreements with transnational firms and sovereign states go ahead. Do town-dwellers fare as well as pastoralists? With the collapse of the state, herders and traders have benefited from reduced restrictions on movement and there is a booming unofficial export and import trade. Settled populations have fared less well. Do pastoralists care about development and social improvement?Throughout the Horn western-funded development projects have had disastrous results. Nevertheless the Somalis have selectively accepted certain elements; phone and internet services are surprisingly cheap. Published in association with the International African Institute North America: Indiana U Press ... Read more

Product Description
Bandits on the Border: The Last Frontier in the Search for Somali Unity - By Nene Mburu.

In the early 1990s, Somalia was in the spotlight for factionalism as Warlords, clans, and sub-clans doggedly wrenched their fiefdoms from the Polyglot State through bloody civil wars. In contrast, thirty years earlier the Somali were pre-occupied with the struggle for stitching together the five Somali-inhabited enclaves of the Horn of Africa into one ‘Greater Somalia’. Bandits on the Border revisits pan-Somalia nationalism of the 1960s when Kenyan Somalis attempted to secede and join the Somalia State which had been created after the merger of the former British Somaliland with the Italian Trusteeship.

This book is the first insider’s analysis of the so-called Shifta secessionist war of the early 1960s and its degeneration into apolitical banditry that continues in the former Northern Frontier Districts of Kenya (NFD).The author argues that in the late 1950’s Britain’s crumbling colonial empire was beyond salvage and, having just fought the Mau Mau, the colonial power could not risk another protracted war in Kenya.It therefore procrastinated a resolution of the ‘Somali question’ until it handed over political power to Jomo Kenyatta’s government. Nevertheless, having neglected and insulated the Somali community/region from the mainstream Kenyan society for sixty years, Britain bequeathed Kenyatta an advanced security problem that required time and long-term economic investment to eradicate collective disaffection and secessionism.

The book also explores the dynamics of the Shifta insurrection in its geopolitical context to illustrate why Somalia’s irredentist foreign policy was unsustainable.It details how the Shifta war was affected by, and correspondingly affected, the realpolitik of the prevailing Cold War. It also gives a detailed comparative analysis with other secessionist wars taking place in Africa. Lastly, the book explores the symmetrical connexion between insecurity in the NFD, the collapsed Somali State, and America’s war on international terrorism particularly after the bombing of the US embassies in eastern Africa and the attacks in USA of 11 September 2001. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

This book is very intresting.
I think this book is a real reference of Somalis existing problem, it tells how the problem was started and which ways it can be overcome and I believe the author is a very bright and intellegent man who isunderstanding the Somalis prolonged problems and I would like to thank himhis outstanding views. Thank you very much indeed for your contribution.

a snapshot of the background of the Somali civil strife
Covering the whole subject about the Somali dilemma.A point which hasbeen ignored for long time.Colonial impact is still the impact of thedilemma.What is happening is just an extention of the problem.

gives an inside information about the effect of the collapse
Rarely a book can cover everthing. This is truely a great work which tookme three years to prepare.An indispensible material for Horn of Africastudents and scholars. ... Read more

Product Description
This book examines the problems of the first thirty years of African independence. Using Somalia as a case study, the author investigates the factors that have led to the present chaos. Somalia suffered the illnesses of other newly independent African states, including experiments in "democracy" based on the Westminster model and excesses in the parliamentary system. The military government which followed attempted to effect certain reforms encompassing higher literacy rates and greater participation of women in public affairs; but wars, juntas, and droughts have all conspired to defeat the new state. In the wake of economic collapse, regime legitimacy disappeared, and "ethnic" conflicts ensued. Peace among the warring clans and re-establishment of legitimate authority is still to come. ... Read more

Product Description
For nearly two decades, and particularly since the civil war, Somali men, women, and sometimes even children without families fled the country in droves. Some sought refuge amongst established Somali communities in the Horn of Africa, the former colonial states of England, France, and Italy, and the Middle East. Others journeyed to new destinations. Today, Somali communities are found in nearly every corner of the world from small rural towns like Barron, Wisconsin and Lewiston, Maine in the United States, to cities like Johannesburg, Sydney, Helsinki, Minneapolis, and Toronto. Diasporic Somalis are just as likely to speak Afrikaans or Finnish as they are to speak Somali. This book represents the first attempt to map the social and cultural contours of the Somali diaspora in a global context. Using case studies from Somali communities in Africa, Europe, and North America, the contributors to this volume construct a global framework for studying the Somali diaspora. This framework simultaneously compares dispersed Somalis in different cultural, economic, political, and racial contexts, and captures the fluid, transnational context of the Somali diaspora. The central questions that guide this book are: How do these contexts inform the production and maintenance of Somali diaspora formation? Consequently, how do the making and remaking of diasporic identities affect local Somali communities, the global diaspora community, host societies as well as the homeland communities they left behind? ... Read more

Product Description
What can be learned from the struggles in Somalia and Somaliland to help prevent the collapse of independent states and cultural groups when confronted by a series of today s complex challenges, ranging from militarism, dictatorship and the politicization of diverse ethnic/clan groups? Why and how did the Siyad military dictatorship survive for over two decades? What makes a society with a relatively shared culture break into two entities, one moving towards self-government by its citizens and the other choosing authoritarian rule? In this book of essays, Dr. Hussein Adam explores questions like these as he analyzes the Somali crisis and contrasts the political cultures of Somalia and Somaliland. In the process, Dr. Adam reveals some of the underlying complexities that can result in the collapse or sustained development of a society. He explores how indigenous political structures foster local initiatives in peace building and democratic governance. Beginning with the inner workings of the Siyad dictatorship and its militarism, Dr. Adam then examines the causes, costs and dynamics of Somali civil wars and the emerging dominance of warlords and then compares the intervention in 1992-1995 by the United States and the United Nations in Somalia, with peace building in Somaliland. He documents the historical points at which politics and politicized Somali Islam intersected. He goes on to reveal the divergence of political practices that have blocked dialogue between Somalia and Somaliland. Dr. Adam offers a participant observer perspective. ... Read more

Product Description
When does a country become a state? On 18 May 1991, the leaders of the Somali National Movement and the elders of northern Somali clans proclaimed that they were setting up the new Republic of Somaliland. Why has Somaliland not followed Somalia into 'state collapse'? Over the past fifteen years Somaliland has successfully managed a process of reconciliation, demobilisation and the restoration of law and order. A constitutionally based government has held three democratic elections. Why has Somaliland yet to be recognised by the international community? The international system purports to promote 'good governance' in Africa. Somaliland has had one of the most free series of elections in theregion. Yet this new republic still has no international legal status, while Somalia, which has had no effective government since 1990, is still accorded de jure sovereignty.Should a unitary government be re-established for all of Somalia? Since the collapse of the Somali state international diplomacy has supported fourteen peace conferences, each focusing on re-establishing Somalia as a whole.Yet it is Somaliland which challenges the typical image of war, disaster and social regression associated with this part of Africa since the 1990s.MARK BRADBURY is a development consultant who has worked extensively in North East AfricaPublished in association with Progressio; North America: Indiana U Press; South Africa: Jacana; Uganda: Fountain Publishers ... Read more

Product Description
The Horn of Africa – principally Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia – is the stage on which Africa’s tragedy is being played out in its most stark and violent form. In this comprehensive history of the region, Peter Woodward argues that while the principal conflicts have arisen from domestic issues of ethnicity, history and traditions, they have been magnified by international involvement in this flash-point which stands at the hinge of Africa and the Middle East.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good Introduction to the Horn
In this book, Woodward delivers a broad and concise political history of the Horn of Africa up to 2003.He differs from some other writers on the Horn by opining that the states that make up the Horn have "significantly different rather than similar historical experiences," and he treats each state differently while still acknowledging connections.There are separate chapters on Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, and Djibouti, as well as essays on multiple issues that are prevalent in the Horn such as regional conflict, extra-state actors, and conflict resolution initiatives.Woodward treats the history of the Horn in Cold War and post-Cold War lenses, although since the book was published in 2003, recent important developments in the War on Terror have not been covered.He also highlights the impact of Islamism, underdeveloped civil society, famine, famine relief, and demarcated/undefined borders.This book serves as an accessible account of the history of politics, conflict, and state collapse in the Horn.This text is also full of important dates, data, and percentages, although it lacks any significant visual representations of its information or maps of any kind (which would have been helpful). ... Read more