Day of the Assassins

<p><b>&lsquo;Written with Burleigh&rsquo;s characteristic brio, with pithy summaries of historical moments (he is brilliant on the Americans in Vietnam, for example) and full of surprising vignettes&rsquo; &ndash; </b><i>The Times </i>&rsquo;Book of the Week&rsquo;<br><br>In <i>Day of the Assassins</i>, acclaimed historian Michael Burleigh examines assassination as a special category of political violence and asks whether, like a contagious disease, it can be catching.<br><br>Focusing chiefly on the last century and a half, Burleigh takes readers from Europe, Russia, Israel and the United States to the Congo, India, Iran, Laos, Rwanda, South Africa and Vietnam. And, as we travel, we revisit notable assassinations, among them Leon Trotsky, Hendrik Verwoerd, Juvénal Habyarimana, Indira Gandhi, Yitzhak Rabin and Jamal Khashoggi.<br><br>Combining human drama, questions of political mo