Age Of Assassins: A History Of Conspiracy And Political Violence, 1865 1981

Description

These were the crimes that were meant to change the world, and sometimes did. The book connects the killing of the Kennedys or the murder that sparked the First World War with less well-known stories, such as the Berlin shooting of an instigator of the Armenian genocide or the attack on an American 'robber baron'. Taking in Malcolm X and Queen Victoria, Adolf Hitler and Andy Warhol, Charles Manson and Emma Goldman, Tsars, Presidents, and pop stars, "Age of Assassins" traces the process that turned thought into action and murder into an icon. In tackling the history of political violence, the book is unique in its range and attention to detail, summoning up an age of assassination that is far from over.

Promotion info

An overarching history of Europe and America's love-affair with assassination, from Abraham Lincoln to Ronald Reagan.

Reviews

Newton writes a fascinating account of assassination in the Western world. In a riveting sequence of stories, he brings to light some of the most shocking acts of murder and political violence in the 20th century – and provides us a glimpse of the people responsible.

Alison, The Book Grocer

Author description

Michael Newton grew up in Brighton. His first book was a history of feral children, Savage Girls and Wild Boys. He has taught at University College, London, Central St Martin's College of Art, Princeton University and Leiden University. He has also written for the Times Literary Supplement.