Assassination Vacation

This is a fun read and my kind of history book. Sarah Vowell has written a travel diary covering her trips to various sites of significance to the assassinations of the U.S. Presidents in the 19th century. Vowell covers both her reactions to the places she visits (and those of her sometimes less-than-enthused travel competitions) and bits of trivia and and of course history about her subjects.

Sure, the topic is a little morbid but she clearly has a great passion for it. Vowell's conversational style and sense of humor make this more entertaining than it sounds. My favorite bits are when she slyly notes the absurdity and weirdness of American history. I'm definitely up for checking out more of her work.

This was a fascinating, deeply neurotic book!

A lot of the stuff about Lincoln and Booth I'd learnt but the chapters on Garfield and McKinley were really interesting. I can appreciate the amount of research the author put into this morbid expedition.

3.5 stars

I listened to this on audio while stitching a wedding sampler for a friend. It's awesome and I wished it did not end, which is why I immediately downloaded The Partly Cloudy Patriot. I am completely motivated to go search out more historic sites. Pronto.

3.5
Interesting, great figurative language (although at times over-the-top or not to my taste), personal when not historical, and at times witty and humorous. I think I will try her ‘The Partly Cloudy Patriot' on audio book as well.

My favorite Sarah Vowell book. Hilarious and educational!

June 2014 reread: yep, still the case.

Really entertaining take on the Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley assassinations.

I was so sad when this book was over.. and I don't feel that way very often. A great combo of sly humor and history.

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.

Vowell travels the country, visiting places presidents

have been assassinated. Along the way we see America's obsession

with violence and hype, but, strangely, it doesn't feel mean or odd.

History has a lot of unknowns that are interesting to dig up, and Vowell has done just that...

I love Sarah Vowellllll so much. Also the audio book of this is hilarious.

I only gave it four stars though because I don't want to devalue the star system, and I didn't like it as much as I liked Partly Cloudy Patriot.

But really, Sarah Vowell is great. She is so smart and passionate and funny and nerdy.

If you're the type of person to read the plaques littered about historic trails, statues and buildings, Sarah Vowell is the perfect guide. As I am only 42% that person, I was hoping for a higher amusement to informative ratio. However, Assassination Vaction is a well researched, fascinating read. You could do much worse in a tour guide than Ms. Vowell.