Book

Author:	Stephen J. Spignesi
Title:	In The Crosshairs
Subtitle:	Famous Assassinations And Attempts From Julius Caesar To John Lennon
Publisher:	Barnes & Noble
Country:	USA
Date:	2004
Format:	Hardcover
Genre:	Non-Fiction
ISBN-13:	9780760762134
Rating:	Rate
Collection:	I Own It I Want It
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Price Guide:	Valuation Page
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Assassinations often change the course of history. Here is an intriguing look at dozens of notable assassinations and attempts throughout history, including complete details about the assassin, the victim, the circumstances of the attack, and the outcome. In the Crosshairs also features photos of many of the victims or would-be victims, and rare archival material, including excerpts from original police reports.

High-profile celebrities, political figures, religious leaders, and many others have fallen prey to assassins, and many have survived. In the Crosshairs is arranged in alphabetical order, by last name, and includes such details as:

On November 8, 1939, Adolf Hitler narrowly escaped an assassination attempt – 12 minutes after he left a room where he was making a speech, a bomb went off.

Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat would probably have survived the assassin’s bullet on October 6, 1981, if he hadn’t taken off his bulletproof vest – but he didn’t like the way it made his suit bulge.

Robert John Bardo, the murderer of young actress Rebecca Schaeffer, carried with him to the crime scene a copy of J. D, Sallinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, just like Mark David Chapman did when he murdered John Lennon nearly nine years earlier.

From notable murders (Abraham Lincoln, Gianni Versace, and Indira Gandhi) to little-known attempts (George W. Bush, Wild Bill Hickock, and Andy Warhol) here is a surprising, informative, and intriguing book that deserves to be on every history buff’s bookshelf.

Comments and Reviews


JPGR&B SUBS 16th Jan 2023		Review Annotation: The author has compiled brief accounts of attacks on 75 famous persons, providing a 'police blotter' report of the facts (date, time, place, weapon, assailant, injuries) followed by a narrative of the event, as well as the outcome and disposition of the case (and assassin). The four pages on John Lennon present an accurate, fact-based description of the Beatle's murder, a stark departure from other sources that too often tend to the maudlin or sensational. The three pages on the attempt on George Harrison's life in 1999 include a discography (although there is not one for Lennon) and mentions Harrison's fear of a 'copy cat' attack following Lennon's murder, although the chapter is silent as to the disposition of the case against his mentally ill assailant. Disturbing reading to be sure, but Spignesi gets the facts right and the book is a good source of basic information. From a popular culture standpoint, it is of interest that of the 75 victims featured in the book, which include presidents and other political figures, religious leaders, a radio talk-show host, an artist (Warhol) , a designer (Versace), and even an assassin (Lee Harvey Oswald), only President John F. Kennedy and John Lennon are represented in photographs on the cover (literally in the 'crosshairs' of the lens of a high-powered rifle - get it?). This, along with Lennon's name also being in the subtitle (with Julius Caesar) is surely intended to make a statement, although this writer is not entirely sure what that statement might be. Melissa Davis Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?

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