Death to Order: A History of Modern Assassination

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.

Simon Ball is professor of international history and politics at the University of Leeds. He is the author of six acclaimed books, including Secret History, The Bitter Sea, and The Guardsmen.