Assassination – the politically motivated killing of high-profile individuals – has always been part of man’s struggle for power, from the removal of tyrants in Classical civilizations to the state-sanctioned ‘decapitation strikes’ of the present day. Chillingly effective as a political tool, assassination is also immensely compelling as an idea. This book examines the concept of political murder, asking questions such as: What did Julius Caesar’s death mean to the Romans? How can assassination be justified? Have our attitudes towards it shifted through time? And why do the circumstances surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy continue to haunt our collective consciousness?

From Caesar and Thomas Becket to Archduke Franz Ferdinand and beyond, this visually striking and intriguing book focuses on the most (in)famous examples of assassination through history, and uses them to explore its various meanings, myths and cults.

Fully illustrated with paintings, drawings, photographs and archival documents, Assassination shows how the violent deaths of leaders and statesmen have played out in the popular and artistic imagination from earliest times to the present, illuminating both contemporary responses to assassinations and their lasting impact on our world.