[.ca] The Book of Assassins: A Biographical Dictionary from ... (ISBN 0785821813)

Amazon.ca:
The term assassin shares origins with the Arabic hashish, giving new meaning to the term "smoking gun." In fact, according to author George Fetherling, "the name assassin was (originally) applied to any member of a splinter group of Ismaili Muslims, who, beginning in the late eleventh century, were thought to take the drug prior to committing their acts of mayhem and terrorism." Today, it is generally understood that an assassin is one who attempts to kill a public official, head of state, or other person in authority. A Biographical Dictionary of the World's Assassins is a sometimes macabre and generally engaging compendium of life stories--from the infamous to the relatively obscure--of those men and women who have, for a variety of reasons, sought to deliberately kill a "powerful person." Although most of the victims are political or religious figures or social activists, the list also includes three professional criminals, two singers, two actors, as well as a fashion designer, banker, publisher, explorer, playwright, industrialist, and radio talk show host, to name a few. The perpetrators--ranging from Michael Abram, who attempted to kill ex-Beatle George Harrison, to Vera Ivanovna Zasulich, the Russian revolutionary heroine who twice shot the chief of police in St. Petersburg in 1878--make a fascinating crew of ideologues and zealots, sociopaths and fanatics. Chock full of memorable, anecdotal detail, Fetherling's Dictionary is a unique addition to "assassination literature," and has something for the true crime fan, the historian, the psychologist, and the general reader alike. --Svenja Soldovieri