Assassination in Theory and Practice By Richard Camellion (1977)
Saturday, 30. September 2006, 03:27:29
In Death Merchant #56 Afghanistan Crashout, Joseph Rosenberger puts a footnote on page 80 that Camellion has written three books on unarmed combat, two are not avaialble to the public but the third has been published by Paladin Press.Naturally curious I emailed Paladin Pressabout this work and got no reply. So inter-library loan to the rescue, but the only copy was in the Australian Federal police library - so I probably have a file as a person of interest now, but such is the dedication I have that I will accept having a file to read this work.
This book is actually written by the Death Merchant himself just as he appears in the books complete with references to the Cosmic Lord of Death. The book is an overview of assassination throughout history. Part of me imagined Chuin reading this book nodding his head at some of the points Camellion had made (such as that assassination is an art, and need not be violent) and throwing to the book in disgust that Sinanju doesn't rate a mention although Hashashins, Ninja and Thugee are all mentioned and that Camellion proposes the use of guns and bombs.
Camellion also disects a number of American assassinations such as the Kennedy Brothers and Martin Luther King suggesting a large Cuban conspiracy linking all three. Then there are examinations of other assassinations such as Leon Trotsky, Archduke Frans Ferdinand and Che Gueverra from around the world. Camellion points out that the notion of a deranged loner as an assassin is largely an American construct with assassinations being considered for a political purpose by a group being the form seen around the world.
There is little practical information in this work, which might be considered a good thing in light of what happened with Hitmanthis might be for the best.
This is an interesting sidelight on the Death Merchant series.
I wondered if anyone ever picked that book up and thought Richard Camellion was a real person.
By anonymous user, # 30. September 2006, 19:44:10
But seriously, it does add a certain reality to the series much like the Harry Potter related books proporting to be Hogwarts text books. Interestingly the copyright is to Paladin press not Richard Camellion or Joseph Rosenberger, as I was expecting. Er that is I was expecting Rosenberger not Camellion (my wife tells me she has to seriously worry about my sanity when I start to believe that it's all real)
Brad
By AggressorBrad, # 30. September 2006, 21:43:25
Actually, Camellion also had a book titled Behavior Modification.
By anonymous user, # 6. January 2008, 11:55:43