Assassination Vacation

Sarah Vowell

Apr 2005 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

New York Times bestselling author of The Wordy Shipmates and contributor to NPR’s This American Life Sarah Vowell embarks on a road trip to sites of political violence, from Washington DC to Alaska, to better understand our nation’s ever-evolving political system and history.

Sarah Vowell exposes the glorious conundrums of American history and culture with wit, probity, and an irreverent sense of humor. With Assassination Vacation, she takes us on a road trip like no other—a journey to the pit stops of American political murder and through the myriad ways they have been used for fun and profit, for political and cultural advantage.

From Buffalo to Alaska, Washington to the Dry Tortugas, Vowell visits locations immortalized and influenced by the spilling of politically important blood, reporting as she goes with her trademark blend of wisecracking humor, remarkable honesty, and thought-provoking criticism. We learn about the jinx that was Robert Todd Lincoln (present at the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley) and witness the politicking that went into the making of the Lincoln Memorial. The resulting narrative is much more than an entertaining and informative travelogue—it is the disturbing and fascinating story of how American death has been manipulated by popular culture, including literature, architecture, sculpture, and—the author’s favorite—historical tourism. Though the themes of loss and violence are explored and we make detours to see how the Republican Party became the Republican Party, there are all kinds of lighter diversions along the way into the lives of the three presidents and their assassins, including mummies, show tunes, mean-spirited totem poles, and a nineteenth-century biblical sex cult.

Ratings and reviews

I listed this title on one of many scraps of paper scrawled with books, music, etc, to look at. It took a few weeks to add it to my library hold list, a few more weeks for the book to become available at the library, and then a few weeks for me to start it. I put off reading it even after I received it, probably because the subject and the non-fiction aspec wasn't appealing at the time. The only reason I started it was because I had exhausted my extensions at the library. Once I started - I couldn't put it down! Who could resist an opening line that reads "One night last summer, all the killers in my head assembled in massachusetts to sing show tunes", mixed with a Preface that includes an overnight stay at a New England bed-and-breakfast complete with your standard breakfast chat about assassins, showtunes, and crushes on killers (as played by...); religious relics, eBay opportunites (George Washinton's hair), and a pilgrimage. I kept reading paragraphs to my husband and re-reading sections. I laughed out loud, and once noticed that the muscles around my mouth were slightly sore from having a continuous smile (or smirk) on my face during my reads. I truly enjoyed this book. I found the mix of politics, art, architecture, history, quirky humor and personal insight to be enchanting. I have to return the book, but plan to re-read it and follow up on some of the books, sites, and figures referenced within.

This vacation forms an interesting narrative for discussing the assassinations if three presidents. It does a great job of showing context of events into the past and future.

This book has obscure and interesting historical diamonds throughout. It humanizes these almost mythical figures. And it's hilarious. Perfect!

About the author

Sarah Vowell is a contributing editor for public radio's This American Life and has written for Time, Esquire, GQ, Spin, Salon, McSweeneys, The Village Voice, and the Los Angeles Times. She is the author of Radio On, Take the Cannoli, and The Partly Cloudy Patriot. She lives in New York City.