false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1162323680m/3110.jpg 3110 8 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. 824686 2005 Assassination Vacation total:7316|5:72|4:125|3:49|2:11|1:2| 7316 29452 10174 1366 5 20 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 28 05:16:24 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 01 06:15:54 -0700 2008 major spoiler alert coming up, folks. pssst… All the Presidents mentioned in the book, DIE. I know, right? You’re saying ‘Aww, cheese and rice! Kim! What’s the point in reading this book then?'

Well, lemme tell you….
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The concept of voice is another in the lo...more...]]> 4 2 false false Sun Dec 28 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 19 06:12:35 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 28 20:27:17 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 4 false false Wed Apr 30 09:03:11 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 24 07:34:26 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 30 09:03:12 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Dec 05 09:43:23 -0800 2007 Wed Dec 05 17:36:39 -0800 2007
I liked The Partly Cloud Patriot, but I loved Assassination Vacation. Vowell's pilgrimage to sites associated with the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley struck so many cords with me it is hard to know where to begin. First, I lea...more...]]> 4 2 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun May 13 14:40:09 -0700 2007 Mon May 14 19:30:53 -0700 2007 "In 2003 and 2004, as I was traveling around in the footsteps of McKinley, thinking about his interventionist wars in Cuba and the Philippines, the United States started up an interventionist war in Iraq. It was to be a 'preemptive war' whose purpose was to disarm I...more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Mar 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 16 11:07:12 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 17 12:16:35 -0700 2009
After Lincoln got shot, almost every presidential assassination attempt, successful or failed, was carried out by a loner with dubious motives.

The reasoning, at least to me, is that it's easier to form information leaks amo...more...]]> 3 1 false false Tue Jan 20 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 13 15:24:58 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 20 16:11:07 -0800 2009 1 more...]]> 4 2 false false Wed Oct 08 11:58:12 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 08 11:58:29 -0700 2008
I am always captivated by history books t...more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 25 10:51:06 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 25 10:57:55 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Dec 18 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Thu Jan 31 06:52:45 -0800 2008 Fri Aug 28 19:37:59 -0700 2009 The Daily Show and I was intrigued by her. This slight, dry, kind of sleepy-looking woman was not who you might expect when you run the words "presidential historian" through your mind (in my mind, "presidential historian" is usually an older man of l...more...]]> 3 2 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sat Jan 12 14:06:35 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 12 18:02:08 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 14 17:59:48 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 14 19:54:29 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Thu Aug 02 21:01:34 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 04 19:38:30 -0700 2007 But what I love most about her is her writing. I wanted to go on a road t...more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Wed Aug 01 14:01:51 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 01 14:01:51 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Thu May 17 07:49:23 -0700 2007 Thu May 17 07:50:45 -0700 2007 more...]]> 0 1 false false Mon Dec 08 14:50:41 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 08 14:51:52 -0800 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=3110