Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down

Mark Bowden once wrote, “No one gets behind, you know that.” The story, Black Hawk Down, provides information not only about war, but values in life. Mark Bowden expresses these values throughout the story and they are beneficial for a teenager in highschool. In this story, the soldiers experience the true horror of the Battle of Mogadishu and are exposed to combat. Mark Bowden expresses the terrors of this war through the voices of the soldiers on both the American side and the Somali side. Although this book has many unpleasant features, it can teach an American teen valuable lessons. The book, Black Hawk Down, provides academic, social, and nationalistic benefits for a high school student.

Through this book, an average American high school

Another social lesson that the book provides in the idea of not giving up. Throughout the story, the soldiers are faced with a difficult and painful task, but they do not give in. Throughout our society, especially among the youth, people give in to difficult tasks, and this book teaches us to not give in so easily. In the article, “The Journal of American History,” James Matray expresses that the soldiers were constantly shot at, “American soldiers in Mogadishu’s maze of streets and alleys to survive the attacks of Somalis speeding past them in pickup trucks with assault rifles blazing”(Matray). Finally, the book, Black Hawk Down, teaches the younger generation about the horrific scenarios in war. This story helps the children of our society about the horrific events the soldiers went through. It helps them understand why the soldiers are different after a war. In an article, William Finnegan quotes a line from the story, “He saw a little Somali boy who looked no more than 5 years old with an AK-47 shooting it wildly from the hip”(Finnegan 39). In addition to teaching us values as people, the story can also teach the youth values as an American

The story can teach the youth about the pride we hold as Americans. We did not stand by and watch the starving nation slowly die, but instead helped them. In an article, William Finnegan stated the reason why we went into war with the Somali warlords, “It was to help a famine by securing, with an overwhelming deployment of force, relief supply routes against the depredations of Somali militias whose power struggles had caused the famine to begin with”(Finnegan 39). Another way the story shows the pride we hold as Americans is the other reason why we fought. In addition to ending the hunger there, we needed to eliminate the warlords there. In a book review, Tyler Anderson states that one of our main purposes there was to take down the warlord, Mohamed Farrah Aidid, “In 1993, the United States entered Somalia with the intention of ending years of starvation by removing the warlord, Mohamed Farrah Aidid.”(Anderson). Finally, the youth can learn about America’s overwhelming strength and how we used it incorrectly. In the story, we should’ve had the advantage on them, but we were careless with our resources. Through this battle with the Somalis, we learned valuable lessons about warfare. In an article, James Matray stated the truth behind our encounter with the Somalis, “[O]verwhelming superiority in technology and firepower created no assurance that U.S. forces could prevail when