Assassins' America

Over the years there have been numerous assassination attempts on the President of the United States.  According to Wikipedia, there have been more than 30 attempts on the president's life and four attempts were successful.  Being from Dallas, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is still talked about to this day in our area, and everyone knows about President Abraham Lincoln's assassination at Ford's Theatre, but what about the other two presidents that were murdered in cold blood while in office, and what about the men that assassinated them?

Jessica Gunderson and Joe Tougas tackle this tough subject, wanting to "examine the lives of each killer and his victim," in Assassins' America.

Published by Capstone, this book targets children ages nine to fifteen, but is still informative for an older audience as well.  It is extremely well written, well researched, and does not diminish the violent acts in which each presidents was assassinated, or the depiction of their killers.  There are a few little facts that are left out but they are nothing that takes away from the validity of the each individual stories.  The book is laid out in an easily readable format, which could be used for teaching as well as casual reading.

I was refreshed on my knowledge of Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy, both their lives and their deaths, and learned a lot about Presidents Garfield and McKinley, who's lives and assassinations I knew very little about.  What's heartbreaking is how public each assassination was.  I cannot imagine what the spectators of these horrific acts experienced.  I also found it extremely interesting that this book delved into the killers minds and circumstances during that time.  Years later my heart still hurts for these presidents and my mind wonders how different America would be if any of them had lived to carry out their terms.

Assassins' America is currently only available for purchase through Capstone and is actually broken down into four individual volumes, each focusing on one president.  I highly recommend this book for young adults as well as teachers and libraries.  Wonderful resource! 

*I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from Capstone and NetGalley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.  All opinions are my own.