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Sarah Vowell exposes the glorious conundrumsof
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.
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 |
