Home Books Death to Order: A Modern History of Assassination

Death to Order: A Modern History of Assassination

Death to Order: A Modern History of Assassination

by Simon Ball

Yale University Press ·2025 ·464 pages
New Release Academic Press
Bottom of the Pile
Bottom of the Pile
I Index
2/99
Bottom of the Pile

2/99

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About This Book

A deeply researched history of assassination in the modern world, from Franz Ferdinand to Osama bin Laden Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Leon Trotsky, Reinhard Heydrich, Mahatma Gandhi, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto, Osama bin Laden, Qasem Soleimani: assassination--the murder of a specific individual by an organised conspiracy in pursuit of political ends--has rarely failed to grip the imagination. In this incisive new history, Simon Ball shows how targeted political murder has become a tool of democratic states but also a key strategy of those who wish to topple them. Ball introduces us to the techniques of assassination and those who wield them, as well as the security regimes that have developed to prevent this violent practice. From the First World War and the age of empire to terrorism and the development of pilotless drones, Death to Order places assassination at the heart of modern political history--and shows how it continues to impact our world.


Reviews

"Ball clarifies some of history's enigmas."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Both have the woozy, maddening force of a carousel stuck in overdrive."

Dan Piepenbring· Harpers Read review ↗ Bottom of the Pile

"This is a big subject and Ball does well to cover as much as he does."

Alan Judd· The Spectator (UK) Read review ↗ Near the Top

"The book comes closest to this in its discussion of assassination policies by democracies."

Andrew Glazzard· The Guardian Read review ↗ Bottom of the Pile

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