Sarah Vowell

New York Times bestselling author of The Word 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.

Assassination Vacation

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.

Laura Mauler

As a huge fan of Sarah Vowell's work on NPR, it was pretty much a given that I would enjoy her book. This is a witty account of her pilgramage to sites of importance to the assassination of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley. The only thing that was surprising, and a little unsettling, was her injection of current politics into the narrative. Don't get me wrong, I definitely share her views, but they distracted from the flow of the story. Overall, it's a fun and interesting book.

Robin M Cabana

I love Sarah Vowell. She's excited about history the way I'm excited about Comic Con and she makes me want to pay closer attention to the statues in plaques in NYC and other places I visit. I learned so much from this book - stuff that would be useful on Jeopardy. She writes a lot about Robert Todd Lincoln, who was coincidentally present at three presidential assassinations, and connects so many other interesting characters to Presidents Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley and their killers, like Doctor Mudd, Edwin Booth, Emma Goldman, William Seward, Mark Hanna, park rangers she meets along the way, her young nephew. Her books are the perfect combination of history and snark and I'll need to read some more. Strange Pilgrims is also great!

Taran Snodgress

Cool idea, mediocre execution

The main theme of the book is really cool: Vowell travels the country visiting sites relevant to the assassins of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley. And...that's about where the good part ends. Much of the book feels like irrelevant tangents, or Vowell's experiences when she visited. As a narrator, Vowell fails to compel interest in the locations. Her anecdotes about roping friends and family into driving her throughout the country are supposed to come off as quirky, but instead just made me cringe. The same holds true for peppering said friends and family with random trivia that no one finds interesting except for Vowell. The Garfield and McKinley chapters are better about this, but the Lincoln section is particularly bad. I expected more from an NPR editor.

Tori Carrillo

This audiobook was fun, quick, and full of information. The author/narrator has a quirky personality and is a great storyteller. She gives history an attitude and her interest and curiosity is contagious. This book is not only full of history and facts but is also humorous and reflective. Definitely recommend for anyone interested in presidents, assassinations, weird facts, or a quick read. Kind of reminds me of Drunk History on Comedy Central but more historically accurate. 

Not sure how the actual book would come across but the audiobook was great and very easy to listen to and follow.

Erik Moe

Enjoyed especially for the overlooked bits of DC and New York that I've passed by hundreds of times.

Assassination Vacation

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