Atlantic Unbound Archive

Mark Bowden

Mark Bowden Mark Bowden, an Atlantic Monthly national correspondent, is an author, journalist, screenwriter, and teacher. His book Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War (1999)—an international bestseller that spent more than a year on the New York Times bestseller list—was a finalist for the National Book Award. Bowden also worked on the screenplay for Black Hawk Down, a film adaptation of the book, directed by Ridley Scott. Bowden is also the author of the international bestseller Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw (2001), which tells the story of the hunt for Colombian cocaine billionaire Pablo Escobar. Killing Pablo won the Overseas Press Club's Cornelius Ryan Award as the best book in 2001 and is currently being adapted for film, with Bowden again writing the screenplay. He is also the author of Doctor Dealer (1987), Bringing the Heat (1994), Our Finest Day (2002) and Finders Keepers (2002).

Bowden contributes regularly to major American magazines. He is also an adjunct professor at Loyola College of Maryland, where he teaches creative writing and journalism.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1951, Bowden grew up in Illinois, New York, and Maryland. He graduated from Loyola College of Maryland in 1973 with a B.A. in English Literature. He lives in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Recent articles by Mark Bowden

October 2009

The Story Behind the Story

Much of the news you see on TV is the work of political hit men—not journalists. And it’s only getting worse.

July/August 2009

Flight Risk

When a U.S. company ignored pilot warnings in Colombia, four Americans died, and three were taken captive.

March 2009

The Last Ace

As American air superiority declines, and the age of fighter jocks returns, we're going to need more men like Cesar Rodriguez.
[Web only: Video: "The View from the Cockpit"]

January/February 2009

The Hardest Job in Football

Producing NFL games is an art peculiar to the modern age. Meet Bob Fishman, master of the form.

October 2008

Distant Replay

How the greatest game in football history looks 50 years later, through the eyes of a modern NFL head coach.

July/August 2008

Mr. Murdoch Goes to War

Rupert Murdoch wants his Wall Street Journal to displace The New York Times as the world’s paper of record. His ambitions could be good news for the newspaper industry— or another nail in the coffin of serious journalism. [Web only: Video: "Rupert Murdoch: The Last Hope for Journalism"]

January/February 2008

The Angriest Man In Television

The firebrand behind The Wire

June 26, 2007

Reviving the Beatles

Beatles fan Mark Bowden chats with Pat Dinizio about his band's new Beatles tribute album, "Meet the Smithereens"

May 2007

The Ploy

The inside story of how the interrogators of Task Force 145 cracked Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s inner circle—without resorting to torture—and hunted down al-Qaeda’s man in Iraq.

March 2007

Jihadists in Paradise

A kidnapping at a Philippine resort triggered a yearlong hunt for pirate terrorists and their American hostages. A behind-the-scenes tale of intrigue, spycraft, and betrayal. [Web-only: Watch CIA surveillance footage and video interviews with the story's key players]

May 2006

The Desert One Debacle

In April 1980, President Jimmy Carter sent the Army’s Delta Force to bring back fifty-three American citizens held hostage in Iran. Everything went wrong. The fireball in the Iranian desert took the Carter presidency with it. [Enhanced for online viewing, with audio, video, photos, maps, and more.]

April 2006

Cry Wolfe

In defense of the last writer in the world who needs defending.

December 2005

Captivity Pageant

December 1979: Christmas comes for the Great Satan.

October 2005

Mahmoud the Bashful

For Iran's new president, running from the 1979 hostage-taking is like John Hancock's running from the Declaration. What's his problem?

July/August 2005

Wolfowitz: The Exit Interviews

As he prepared to leave office, the deputy secretary of defense engaged in a series of conversations with the author on Iraq, democracy, intelligence, 9/11, and how he believes America must make its way in the world.

December 2004

Among the Hostage-Takers

Twenty-five years ago in Tehran a group of Iranian students stormed the U.S. embassy and took hostage the entire American diplomatic mission. Now many of the leading hostage-takers speak candidly about their actions—which a surprising number deeply regret.

December 2004

News Judgment and Jihad

Terrorists depend on the cooperation of the media. It's time to stop providing it.

July/August 2004

Lessons of Abu Ghraib

One shocking thing about the photographs is that for some people they weren't shocking.

July/August 2004

Pompadour With a Monkey Wrench

Al Sharpton's goal has never been the presidency; he wants to become the leader of Black America. Problem is, that job no longer exists.

March 2004

When the Front Page Meets the Big Screen

Hollywood is not a reliable moral arbiter of anything, so it's not surprising that when it holds a mirror up to journalism, Shattered Glass is the result.

January/February 2004

A Beautiful Mind

As the Philadelphia Eagles' Hank Fraley demonstrates, the behemoth who snaps the ball must also be one of the most mentally nimble players on the field.

October 2003

The Dark Art of Interrogation

The most effective way to gather intelligence and thwart terrorism can also be a direct route into morally repugnant terrain. A survey of the landscape of persuasion.

November 2002

The Kabul-ki Dance

Inside the cockpit with the pilots and wizzos of the 391st Fighter Squadron, the top guns of America's air war in Afghanistan.

May 2002

Tales of the Tyrant

What does Saddam Hussein see in himself that no one else in the world seems to see? The answer is perhaps best revealed by the intimate details of the Iraqi leader's daily life.