Cheryl (boomerbooklover) - reviewed on 11/10/2023 + 431 more book reviews

Collection of quirky accounts of mostly American and British history. My favorite involves the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in a motorcade from a train station to the town hall. At least 7 assassins were there. Two could not get into a good position in the crowd to shoot. Two lost their nerves. One launched a bomb that bounced off the main car and exploded under a vehicle later in the convoy. At the town hall, a furious Ferdinand abandoned the reception to visit his injured staff at the hospital. On the way, the car stopped across the street from a cafe, yards away from where a one of the failed assassins was seated. He recognized the car, walked up, shot the Archduke and tried to shoot his chief of staff. A well meaning bystander grabbed his arm, so the shot instead killed the Duke's wife.

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