Some great stories and some okay stories... ( )

I personally don't think this collection is as strong as Bowden's other work, but it was interesting nonetheless. ( )

An alright selection of essays/articles from the author of [book: Black Hawk Down]. A tad too many about political matters in America and sports but that is up to personal taste and not quality of writing. They all pulled me in and the author definitely has the ability to describe people so that you feel you have met them. I may just have to get around to reading Black Hawk Down which has been lingering on my to-be-read pile for ages. ( )

A collection of Bowden’s feature writing. He says in the intro to Black Hawk Down that he just told the story he found, and this collection is good proof of that – he doesn’t have anything else like the amazing story told in that book. Most disappointing was an essay on torture, in which he points out that Israel once authorized torture in the most extreme cases, then discovered (surprise!) that torturers routinely found themselves facing extreme cases, so outlawed it again, with the understanding that if the country ever did face a hidden-nuclear-bomb case someone might torture and face the lawful consequences. Okay; but from this he draws the lesson that the Bush Administration is doing the right thing on torture: deny we do it, but do it anyway. Given that the administration has done everything possible to ensure that no one will ever be punished for anything done in secret in the name of national security (or in some other name, since that’s kind of the point of secrecy), the equation of our policy to a formal ban is grotesque and speaks of moral obtuseness. My last foray into his ouvre, I think. ( )