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 ...
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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.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Assassination Vacation to cart. $5.00, good condition, Sold by HPB-Diamond rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2005 by Simon & Schuster Audio.
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Well researched, detailed accounts of attempts and assasinations of US Presidents. Easy to read book. A must for all historians and history buffs.
Stu936
Oct 13, 2011
Strange But Fun
Sarah is "different." In talking about the assinations she brings in interesting tid bits and humor.
courtneyinatlanta
Aug 26, 2010
Letdown
I like Sarah Vowell on NPR, but I'm sorry to say I don't care for her writing. This book did contain some interesting trivia, which I liked, but Vowell interjects too many of her own opinions and personal anecdotes into the book, and none of them are very interesting. It annoys me when people can't talk about anything without bringing their personal politics into it. Vowell is a super-Democrat, and while I agree with many of her opinions, that's not why I read this book. I was looking for historical trivia, not a list of reasons why she hates Bush. Also, she completely neglected the Kennedy assassination for reasons that elude me. I had been looking forward to this book, but it ended up being a pretty big letdown.
Bubblehead
Apr 9, 2009
She is worth reading on anysubject
What a nice way to learn little knowntid-bits about a important events in our history
Alissa
Feb 23, 2009
Laugh out loud history
Vowell is like a female, liberal democrat version of P.J. O'Rourke, and if that alone doesn't make you want to read this book, then let me add that in Assassination Vacation she manages to craft an informative and hilarious book out of her research into three historic presidential assassinations.
Vowell recounts the stories behind the assassinations of Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley while traveling about to various locales that have a link to the assassinations, no matter how tenuous. Part travel-logue, part history, part memoir, Assassination Vacation also manages to draw several links between America's history and more recent historical events concerning the presidency of George W. Bush and the Iraq War.