The Mammoth Book of Special Ops: The 40 Most Dangerous Special Operations of Modern Times

by Richard Russell Lawrence

The shadowy activities of special forces have grown into an increasingly exposed element of 21st century warfare and anti-terrorist activity. Here, in one giant volume, are 30 of the most dangerous... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786718269
• ISBN13: 9780786718269
• Release Date: August 2006
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers
• Length: 497 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Often riveting, consistently compelling accounts

In today's New York Times, there was an article written by Thom Shanker from which I selected this brief excerpt: "Every night in Iraq, American Special operations forces carry out as many as a dozen raids aimed at terrorist leaders allied with Al Qaeda, other insurgent fighters and militia targets...[Senior policy makers in Washington] differ on whether the small units of elite units should focus on capturing and killing leaders of the group that calls itself Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and foreign fighters in Iraq, or whether the greater threat comes from the Sunni- and Shiite-based insurgency." These Special Operations forces conduct between 6 and 12 missions every night across the country. This is still another exercise of a military option whose history can be traced back in time at least to the Trojan War, about 3,000 years ago. The Mammoth Book of Special Ops was edited by Richard Russell Lawrence, who provides an especially informative introduction to each of the eyewitness accounts and/or analyses of "the 40 most dangerous special operations of modern times," during a1966-2006 timeframe. These accounts include those of Blackhawk Down, Bravo Two Zero, Operation Barras, Hunting Saddam, and Majar al-Kabir. To assist those who read this review, I now provide brief comments on those accounts that I found to be especially interesting and informative. "Tiger Country" (1968) Comment: Lawrence introduces this brief account as follows: "In 1968, Franklin D. Miller was leading a Special Forces patrol in hostile territory looking for signs of enemy activity. Miller's patrol was mainly Montagnard tribesmen, the original indigenous people of Vietnam. The special forces who trained them called them `Yards.'" Once under attack, and here's a key point, "the unit which had attacked them was not able to take on a small, highly mobile, well-armed reconnaissance team like theirs." Eventually Miller and his companions were extracted and he was "relieved to leave tiger country." "The Tet Offensive" (1968) Comment: After including an extended commentary by Richard Burns (a Pathfinder in the 101st Airborne Division), Lawrence examines a sequence of events early in 1968, then observes that the Tet Offensive "was a turning point. For the first time the North Vietnamese had taken the war from its rural base into supposedly impregnable areas of South Vietnam." "Raid on Entebbe" (1976) Comment: Lawrence relies heavily on information provided by Moshe ("Muki") Betser when reconstructing events that occurred after Air France Flight 139 was skyjacked by terrorists in June of 1976. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) rescued the hostages within an hour after the first of the Hercules transport jets set down at the Entebbe airport. "Black Hawk Down" (1993) Comment: Much of the material in this account was provided in Mark Bowden's book, Black Hawk Down, which also served as the basis of an excellent film (2002) directed by Ridley Scott. The ill-fated mission by Task For

Worth Reading

Overall, this is a good glimpse into the intensity of the sorts asymetrical combat encountered by special operators. The stories become a bit formulaic after the first ten or so you read, but that's just because there is a formula to telling a good war story.