The assassination of political, religious and military leaders, often dictators, is frequently seen as the short cut to solving a particular problem. The author takes issue with this argument. Examining a series of linked assassinations together with their causes and effects, he seeks to demonstrate that in many cases the killings have produced unforeseen and unintended consequences that all too often result in the opposite result to that desired. His case studies, arranged intriguingly in pairs, cover such diverse characters as Julius Caesar and Thomas Beckett, Ghandi and Jesus Christ, Tsar Alexander II and Abraham Lincoln, Michael Collins and Field Marshall Sir Henry Wilson, and Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. This is an absorbing, controversial and informative study. AUTHOR: Miles Hudson went into politics after a military career. He was Political Secretary to Sir Alec Douglas Home at the Foreign Office and Director of the Conservative Group for Europe during the 1975 Referendum campaign. He has written numerous books including Intervention in Russia. SELLING POINTS: -A superbly researched and well written book studying the murders of 18 key historical figures -Controversially argues that assassination of individuals rarely, if ever, changes the course of history -Covers more than 2000 years of history in 15 countries ILLUSTRATIONS 8 pages of b/w plates
