Bowden, Mark

Recounts a 1993 firefight in Mogadishu, Somalia, that resulted in the deaths of eighteen Americans and more than five hundred Somalis, examining the rationales behind the disastrous raid.

Late in the afternoon of Sunday, 3 October 1993, 140 elite US soldiers abseiled from helicopters into a teeming market neighbourhood in the heart of the city of Mogadishu, Somalia. Their mission was to abduct two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord and return to base. It was supposed to take them about an hour. Instead, they were pinned down through a long and terrible night in a hostile city, fighting for their lives against thousands of heavily armed Somalis. When the unit was rescued the following morning, 18 American soldiers were dead and more than 70 badly injured. The Somali toll was far worse - more than 500 killed and over 1000 injured. Authoritative, and insightful, "Black Hawk Down" is a minute-by-minute account of modern war. This story is now a major motion picture directed by Ridley Scott, and starring an ensemble cast including Josh Hartnett, Ewen McGregor, Jason Isaacs, Tom Sizemore, Orlando Bloom, Eric Bana, Ron Eldard, Jeremy Piven and Sam Shepherd.

The unbelievable true story of Joey Coyle, an unemployed Philadelphia dock worker faced with an extraordinary dilemma on an ordinary day in 1981. His life was forever changed when he found $1.2 million in unmarked casino money.

In October 1993, nearly one hundred elite U.S. troops dropped by helicopter into a teeming market in the heart of Somalia. Their mission was supposed to take an hour. Instead they were pinned down through the night, fighting thousands of heavily armed Somalis. The following morning eighteen Americans were dead and more than seventy had been badly injured.

This work is a dramatic account of the hunt for and defeat of Osama bin Laden draws on unprecedented access to primary sources to trace how key decisions were made, revealing events from the perspectives of an adept President Obama and an increasingly despondent bin Laden. After masterminding the attacks of September 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden managed to vanish. Over the next ten years, as the author shows, America found that its war with al Qaeda, a scattered group of individuals who were almost impossible to track, demanded an innovative approach. Step by step, the author describes the development of a new tactical strategy to fight this war, the fusion of intel from various agencies and on the ground special ops. After thousands of special forces missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the right weapon to go after bin Laden had finally evolved. By Spring 2011, intelligence pointed to a compound in Abbottabad; it was estimated that there was a 50/50 chance that Osama was there. The author shows how three strategies were mooted: a drone strike, a precision bombing, or an assault by Navy SEALs. In the end, the President had to make the final decision. It was time for the finish.

Examines the Iran hostage crisis during which fifty-two Americans were held hostage in the Tehran embassy for over 440 days, and offers insights into the event from the perspective of the hostages, soldiers sent to set them free, the radical captors, and diplomats trying to end the crisis.

Chronicles the experiences of ninety-nine American soldiers who were trapped in the city of Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993.

Chronicles the experiences of ninety-nine American soldiers who were trapped in the city of Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993.

Using the history of the Conficker computer worm as a centerpiece, the author discusses the war raging over the Internet between those who want to exploit it and those who aim to protect it.

Chronicles the experiences of ninety-nine American soldiers who were trapped in the city of Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993.