Author Info
Mark Bowden has had a successful life. Over many years he has acomplished things that even some of the worlds greatest writers would be enviousof. He has reached the of his career. His many grand achievements have landed him on the New York Times best sellers list for man than a year now.
Growing up, Bowden frequently moved to a states along the eastern seabord of the United States. Born in St. Louis, Missouri in the year 1951, his family soon moved Illionis, New York, and finally ended up graduating college at Layola College of Maryland in 1973 with a Bachelors degree in English Literature which helped him through the years become the grand writer he is today.
Mark Bowden is currently working through several jobs along with being a writer. He is also a well known screenwriter, which has written many well know plays that are still reconized today. He is also a journalist for many magazines such as the New York Times. he is even an atlantic monthly national correspondant for the New York Times. Aside from being all of the above mark has found the time to be a teacher.
Among his acomplishments he has written many books are being read by many students in high school all over the United States. His Books Consist of, Black Hawk Down, Doctor Dealer, and Our Finest Day. That is Certainly the end of his list of books. Book are not the only thing he hasn't written, he has also written many articles in many famous magazines which are read all over the world. Bowdenhas won many awards for his writing. He won the Overseas Press Clubs Corneius Ryan Award for writing the book Killing Pablo.
1993 in literature
Events
Professor Stephen Hawking's book, A Brief History of Time, becomes the longest running book on the bestseller list of The Sunday Times.
November 17 - Annie Proulx wins the National Book Award for her novel The Shipping News.
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New Books
Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years - Sue Townsend
Barnyard Dance - Sandra Boynton
The Christmas Box - Richard Paul Evans
The Client - John Grisham
Complicity - Iain Banks
The Emigrants - W.G. Sebald
The Giver - Lois Lowry
Honour Among Thieves - Jeffrey Archer
The Hope - Herman Wouk
In the Eye of the Sun - Ahdaf Soueif
Lasher - Anne Rice
Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquivel
Losing Eddie - Deborah Joy Corey
Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus - John Gray
Men at Arms - Terry Pratchett
Moving Mars - Greg Bear
The Night Manager - John le Carré
Nightmares and Dreamscapes - Stephen King
Deaths
January 22 - Abe Kobo, writer
February 6 - Joseph Mankiewicz, director, producer, writer
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Awards
Booker Prize: Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha
See 1993 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
Nebula Award: Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars
Newbery Medal for children's literature: Cynthia Rylant, Missing May
Nobel Prize for Literature: Toni Morrison
Prix Goncourt: Amin Maalouf, Le Rocher de Tanios
Prix Décembre: René de Obaldia. Exobiographie
Prix Médicis French: Emmanuèle Bernheim, Sa femme
Prix Médicis International: Paul Auster, Leviathan
Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Tony Kushner, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Robert Olen Butler, A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Louise Gluck, The Wild Iris
Whitbread Best Book Award: Joan Brady, Theory of War
Nobel Prizes
Physics - Russell Alan Hulse, Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr.
Chemistry - Kary Mullis, Michael Smith
Medicine - Richard J. Roberts, Phillip A Sharp
Literature - Toni Morrison
Peace - Nelson Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk
Of course we cannot forget that the battle of black hawk down occurred during this year to inspire him write this book
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993#Year_in_topic
Act 2 Chapters 1-8
2. Comment on the significance of this scene.
This scene is significant to the story because it kicks off the rest of the chapters and second act
3.Ask questions about the scene.
What were the reasons our American troops were over in Somalia? What were some of the reasons relating to UN attacts on the pakastanis?
4Quote lines from the scene that you enjoyed and comment on them.
"A bird just went down"
I enjoyed the suspence and the emotion. This is what life is all about. The quote is so depressing but yet a sign of relief that someone out there besides me has emotion toward something so terrible.
Act 2 chapers 9-14
2.Comment on the significance of the scene.
This scene is crutial to the act because it give it the juice and soul to it.
3.Ask questions about the scene.
How did seizmore break his elbow?Why did he have to carry a radio?
5.Describe your reactions to a charactor.
I would have to say that as of now Seizmore is the most interesting charactor because of his elbow breaking right before the mission started.
1.Intellectuals-A smart person
"were nearly one hundred of his clansman, intellectuals"
2.Milita-A part of the organized armed forces of a country liable to call only in emergency
"....and milita leader"
3.dictator- a person granted absolute emergency power
"Clan of former dictator mohammed Siad Barre,"
4.Capitalists- a personwho has capital especially invested in business
"The Habr Gidr were enthusiastic capitalist"
5.Garrulos- given to prosy, rambling, or tendous loquacity: pointlessly or annoyingly talkitive
"...a garrulous balding man..."
6.Intervene-to become a third party to a legal proceeding begun by others for the protection of an alleged
"the world to intervene to feed the strong"
7.Lucrative-producing wealth
"The world to intervene to feed the strong"
8.semblance-outward and often specious appearance or show
"...war had destroyed all semblance of the older order"
9.Bile-inclination to anger
"Yusuf knew the bile on Aidid's radio"
We asked 50 people just a few questions about the war in Somalia.
1.Do you believe that the war is the solution?
Yes No Undecided
27/50 20/50 3/50
2.Do you prefer the M-16 over the AK-47?
Yes No Undecided
31/50 19/50 0/50
3.Do you believe in American aid in other countries?
Yes No Undecided
40/50 5/50 5/50
4.More or less respect for troops now or before?
Now Before
45/50 5/50
5.Which of the troops do you prefer?
Delta Ranger Seal
10/50 5/50 35/50
6.Humvee or Hummer?
35/50 15/50
7.Which do you prefer,Huey or Blackhawk?
Huey Blackhawk
13/50 37/50
8.So how do you feel about killing with U.S troops?Do you agree it should happen?
Yes No
33/50 17/50
9.So do you like how our troops are still in Iraq and spend tax payers money to help out the Iraqis in building their country back up?
Build Dont build
12/50 38/50
Mike Durant: Mike Durant was a helicopter pilot in the super six chopper that went down. I think that his goals were to be able to help the round troops that were on the ground and he used everything he could on his chopper to help the ground troops. He used his mini guns and he even got so close that he got shot by a rocket propelled grenade and his chopper went spiraling down and crashed. He survived the crash and had a broken leg and a crushed vertebrate in his back. All his expectations were to out of that spot he was in, and be safe.
Mohammed Hassan Farah: He was the guy in the very first page that was tying to have a meeting with other important people so that they could decide what was going to happen to the country of Mogadishu. His goal was to get the people in that meeting to agree on what was going to happen. Instead the meeting was rudely interrupted by sixteen TOW missiles that killed most of the people. Then his expectations were to survive the blasts and get to his kid. His tactics were using dead bodies as shields.
Wilcotts: He was a popular person with all the guys at the compound and they all called him Elvis. That accounts that he had a dead on impression of the late pop singer. He was a pilot and he flew one of the black hawks that were on the mission on Mogadishu. H was a guy that all the people could trust and he would not tell anybody if somebody did something wrong or out of order. As a matter of fact he did some things that he was not supposed to do. He helped kill, eat, and bury a wild bore for the guys at the compound that hadn’t eaten anything but MRE’s . His goals were to, like Durant, help out the ground troops and he did so by trying so hard he crashed. Then his only expectations were to get out alive.
In this section of the book the author talks about two major themes.The helecopters going down was one of the major themes that I saw.All of the blackhawks went down and all of them went down by antiaircraft missiles.Both of them were hit in the tail and they both went down in a spiral into a place that was riddled with Somali militiaen.The other theme that I saw was that these rangers were being stuck in the positions that I thought could have been prevented.
The first chopper that went down was the super six one and it was hit in the tail with a RPG and spiraled downward into a tight spot.There were alot of people coming toward that position. Then the second chopper was hit and also went down into a spiral and landed in a very compromising position that Mike Durant had to get help from snipers and even then he could not get out of that.The first chopper was not so bad but it was very close to Americans and thats why its so major in this theme.
Another theme that I saw was that he delta force and the rangers were being stuck in undoubtfully bad positions.For example,one of the squads was stuck in an ally and they had fire coming towards them from both ends of that very ally.Better planning or knowing to not hide in an ally would have prevented that from happening.To add to the ground troops being in a bad position the covoys that were supposed to help them,got lost and taking fire themselves.They were taking casualties and making it harder for the downed pilots and the ground troops that they were supposed to be helping.Those were the major THemes that I could find in the section that our group had.
In this section of black hawk down the author starts out talking about how the rangers are coming in the city every day and tearing the roofs off of peoples houses. The chapter starts off as these really important guys, who are people such as business men and capitalists some of the best educated people in the clan. they were talking about how they wanted to make the city of Mogadishu a better place to live in and that they did not want Adidd to be the ruler of the country. This guy Mohammed Hassan Farah had been attacked by the rangers not but a few months earlier. He was wounded and his wounds were finally starting to heal and he gets attacked again in this room that all the important people are in. they get hit with these missiles called TOW missiles. They shoot plasma at the target and go through and like a grenade they blow up causing shrapnel to hurl at the people inside. They end up shooting 16 missiles into the house and then Mohammed survives so they take him away. It also in the first chapter talks about how when the choppers would come just to terrorize the people in the town. One guy felt his baby kicking inside the mothers stomach when the choppers flew by.
In the rest of the chapter they first talk about how Super six one went down and how it got hit by a rocket propelled grenade in the tail and how that caused it to spin out of control plummeting to the ground. How one of the people was hanging out of the chopper when it went down. When it went down the people in Mog were tiring to got to it to kill any of the survivors in the chopper that went down. The battle was quickly going down hill and the soldiers that were on the ground had to go to the chopper and see if there were any survivors and if there were make sure that they get out alive. So now everybody on the ground is going to the black hawk and another one goes down. This is super six four that goes down and they land fairly well and nobody is hurt too bad so most of them get out of the chopper and on of the city kids goes outside to see the fighting just in time to get out of his house before the chopper comes down on it. He hides under a car and watches the soldiers get out and start killing people that were trying to get to the downed chopper to kill the people that were in that one. The other choppers that were in the air tried to aid in the escape of the pilots and other people that were in the chopper by using the guns on the side of the chopper that could shoot at a rate of 6000 rounds per minute.
In another part of the city the rangers and the delta force were trying to stay alive with all the people shooting around them and at them. The convoy that was supposed to get them was getting lost and having their own trouble because of the people with RPG’s were aiming for them because they were part of the people trying to kill them. It finally got there and they had to pick up bodies left and right. People were having to get into these convoys that were covered in blood and dead people were stacked on top of the humvees
1"But listen here.When you get accross,dont you go through that door way,see?,you turn around and start shooting,because as soon as you're accross,I'be coming"
This is relevant because it showed how bad the battle was and how they couldnt leavy anybody behind.
2."We got a bleeder here"
This shows how soldiers were being wounded and how they were desperate to fix them
3."Ranger,Ranger,you die Samalia"
This showed how the Somalis felt about us and how they expressed their anger
4."Pick up and keep moving"
Showed how deticated they were to fighting this war and how deticated they were to their men
5."Come on guys, we gotta go"
This showed how they were rushed through the whole mission.
6."Hey wait, we dont even know if anybody is still alive"
This was what he was thinking about how they dont want to go back and help their own brothers
7."Give up on that fifty"
How they kept coming and coming and how they kept taking over and kept moving.
They were going to get there even if they had to sacrafice there life.
9."I'm going"
This shows how dedicated they were to their friends in the ranger squad.
10."Six One goin down"
This even started the main event of the book of Blackhawk Down
American aid in other nations has both helped and caused conflict over many different nations. As an example,when we helped out the country Africa,we angered its surrounding countries for lending them a hand.We bring them food and even medical supplies,which in turn is causing controversy because they are getting cheaper for the Africans moreso than it is for the actual people in Africa.The countries that even today we are helping out are Asia,India,and Africa that have rising numbers of both population and diseases.Also children are being born into poverty and dying of hunger and viruses they can catch by drinking their very own water.WE help by bringing inexpensive food so that starvation isnt an issue anymore.
By aid,I dont mean just to bring them supplies,we also help them with their military.This was not the smartest thing to do in the case with Mogadishu.Nevertheless,just like with aid in food and medicine,there are drawbacks to bringing in military to help one country and not the others.
Some countries hire help from private organizations that help in ways that some countries could not handle themselves.These hired military organizations in America are usually U.S. Special Forces personnel that had just gotten out and had no where to go.In some instances,hired aid can make 100 Special Forces personnel take out thousands of people for the country at war. The money that we are using in the aid for other countries is rising.In the past ten years,we have double our year costs than before that.The need for other countries to depend on us is taking billions of dollars.
According to a military spokesman at a conference on Saturday, the pentigon whats to speed up the production for brand new armored Humvees. Apearently there is an issue of wheather the military is providing enough protection for there men out on the line driving around giving aid to there fellow soldiers.An Iraq bound national guardsman question the Defence Atterny Donald Rumsfeild on that issue. The Army spokesman aloso said that they were nagotiating with Florida-baced Armor Holdings for the production of the new and improved M-1114 Humvee.These new humvees are build bulletproof on almost all sides and both top and bottem.
The military is shooting off of the charts whe it comes to aircraft.We have gone from using biplanes in WW2 to using high speed sound breaking jets.Even today we have airplanes that dont need pilots.If their was a feild that I think the United States has advanced in,I would have to say the airplanes.It is said that the new Unmanned Air Combat Vehicle is an affordable weapon system that expands our world of combat.One thing that has advanced and is not an aircraft is our air baces and carriers.Everything on these two things is absolutly fool proof.An air craft carrier is literally a city on water.It has everything that any soldier could ever need.They have stores shops some even have jims as such so thatthe men on the carrier dont get fatiged.Becides the unusually great facilites,the men aboard ship get the wonderful experience of working with some of the worlds fastest aircraft
Mark Bowden info
-Bookreporter.com
Additional info found on Somalia obtained from
-History Channel on 11-24-04
More info found for Africa and Somalia taken from
-Discovery Channel on 11-24-04
Government info received from
-http://www.cbo/gou/showder.cfm
Year info found at
-http://wikipedia.org/wiki/1993#year in topic
Related topics
-http://www.indystar.com/articles/4/201592-2894-010.htm
More related topics
-http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/ucav.htm