Day of the Assassins: A History of Political Murder

In this wide-ranging survey, historian Burleigh (Populism) examines assassination plots from ancient Rome to the present day. He begins with the murder of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE, the most well-known example of “tyrannicide,” or the killing of a leader with too much power, and goes on to recount lesser-known assassinations of the Reformation, when leaders of warring Christian sects would name their counterparts heretics, a move which absolved any follower who killed them. Burleigh also focuses on assassination as an international political tool in the 20th century, including the Soviet Union’s covert training of “five-man assassination squads” to operate in Weimar Germany, and spotlights the CIA’s assassination plots against Fidel Castro and leaders of the Viet Cong, as well as the agency’s more recent drone killings in the Middle East. Delving deep into discussions considering the actual effectiveness of assassination as a political tool, Burleigh shows that while the political consequences are historically mixed, the social ones are usually negative; he warns of a near future in which political killings may rise as extremist groups in the U.S. and other nations continue to grow in influence. It’s an enlightening look at the interplay between violence and power. (July)