Vowell's blend of humor, travelogue, and history works for me. I regularly chuckle and "oooh, interesting" when I read her work.

Assassination Vacation was engaging and fun. In her signature style, Vowell delves into the assassination plots (and the assassins) for three US presidents: Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley - all in the latter-half of the 19th-century. Lincoln's assassination (expectedly) gets the largest page count, but it includes some interesting historical notes - and some very modern ones, e.g. who built and maintains this John Wilkes Booth Memorial in the median of US301 near Port Royal, Virginia?? [I've driven this stretch of highway before, and now I really need to keep my eyes peeled for it!]

Garfield's assassination was familiar to me, thanks to Millard's Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President, but ummm... I preferred Vowell's recounting. Funny how that works out, as I love straight up history, but Millard went a little too far in the beatification of Garfield, while Vowell focused more on the one-man--delusional-show of Charles Guiteau. Of course, since I already knew the story from Millard, I was able to understand more of Vowell.


Charles Guiteau drawn as court jester holding "An Office or Your Life" as a sign

McKinley gets short shrift here, the first part of "his" chapter is more or less still about Garfield, and then quickly gets into some brief history of Buffalo, NY, where McKinley's assassination took place, and then is almost totally taken over by the larger than life Teddy Roosevelt, McKinley's VP and successor.

Interesting note here: Robert Todd Lincoln, President Lincoln's only surviving son, was near/present at *all three* of these assassinations - obviously his father's, he was in the train station with Garfield, and while not "with McKinley", he had just arrived in town for the Pan-American conference at the same time as McKinley. Poor dude was a bad omen.

4.5 stars

A review of Assassination Vacation, Take the Cannoli, and Unfamiliar Fishes, all by Sarah Vowell.

Jeff says:
A trio of writing from a contributor to NPR’s This American Life, as well as the voice of Violet in The Incredibles, which focuses on not-so-typical travel destinations, or at least not for the reasons most people would travel to them.

These books are not really a trilogy, I just chose to read them together. Assassination Vacation begins with the author describing the Stephen Sondheim musical Assassins, which a coworker recommended to me. She focuses on three presidential murders which Robert Todd Lincoln had the unfortunate experience of witnessing, the first of which was his own father. She travels to these locations in search of information, but especially any plaques that may commemorate the events.

Take the Cannoli takes its title from one of the author’s favorite movies, The Godfather. She enjoyed it so much that she travels to Sicily but just can’t bring herself to ask for a ticket to Corleone and walk in Al Pacino’s footsteps. She does make it to Hoboken, the hometown of Frank Sinatra in search of his history and any plaques they may have of his time growing up there.

In Unfamiliar Fishes, she travels to one of the best destinations for fun and sun, Hawaii. However, she goes to visit Pearl Harbor and discovers more of the dark side of America’s 50th state. Somewhat like wanting to listen to Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo'ole’s version of Over the Rainbow, but hearing his song Hawaii ’78, which promotes Hawaiian rights and independence.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly. Since Sarah Vowell is a regular radio personality on NPR, I had the good fortune of having her cute voice replace mine in my head as I read through this genuinely interesting and witty discourse of American history.

I am always captivated by history books that give away little unknown details of the past, and Sarah Vowell really excells in this arena. For example, did you know that the 1922 revealing of the Lincoln Monument in Washington D.C. was segregated? Also, that Geronimo, famed leader of the Chiricachua Apaches, died imprisoned in Oklahoma's Fort Sill? I didn't know that little bit of Oklahoma history.

This book revolves around three United States presidential assasinations (Lincoln, Garfield, & McKinley; however, the beauty of it is that it doesn't only focus on the presidents. In fact, the presidents hardly star in their own dramas. Vowell chooses very tactfully to delve into the lives of the assasins, their cohorts, the vice-presidents, and any other involved parties. So, instead of a historical account on Lincoln, the reader gets a brief biography of John Wilkes Booth.

The piece also does a superb job of connecting the past events with those occuring presently or have occured in the recent past. For instance, did you know that Timothy McVeigh (bomber of the Oklahoma City Murrah Federal Building in 1995) wore a shirt with the quote, "Sic Semper Tyrannis!" (Thus be to Tyrants) the same quote that John Wilkes Booth yelled after he shot Lincoln and jumped on to the stage of the Ford Theater?

I think my favorite aspect of this book is the fact that it is written by a woman who is obviously liberal and lets it be known, but she doesn't politicize the actual history and events themselves. She presents the facts with an unbiased whim! Plus, the book is surprisingly patriotic. I guess I should have foreseen the patriotism of the piece. I mean, there's no way that one writes an entire book covering three specific U.S. president assasinations without showing an absolute dedication to historical facts. Sarah Vowell has to be a devout patriot in order to have put so much effort into such a brilliant piece.

This is a great book to get a conservative to read. I suggested it to my father. We'll see if he actually pursues it.

It is difficult to defend against a single lunatic.

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 among a group, and a group draws more attention to itseld, it generates communication, and communication is always susceptible to interception.

I studied this idea on Wikipedia recently, mulling it over out of a weird fear during Obama's first day on the job. It was weird when I later picked up the audiobook for Sarah Vowell's "Assassination Vacation" and discovered her addressing the exact thing I wanted to know more about.

This is the book I wanted when I grabbed "The Wordy Shipmate", this is the experience her radio segments bring in smaller doses.

"Assassination Vacation" exists at a cross section of Vowell interests that make her approach and her passion all collide to excellent effect. Her morbid fascinations, her love of history, her deft ability to meld personal biography with her research, it's all here.

Vowell makes me like history because Vowell shows me the past through her own whimsical world. The structure of the book, where she visited sites associated with the assassinations works well, giving a fun narrative structure almost like a road trip. Vowell's quirky delivery and humor in the audio form helps the whole thing flow effortlessly and I ran out of content wishing she could have just segwayed unto other topics and kept going.

The only ding, and it's a small one would be some of the political commentary about the Bush administration. It broke the narrative a few times and just came off as a little more hostile than the topic warranted, and this is coming from a guy who agreed with all her points.

Otherwise, this is a must read (or must listen I suppose) for anyone with an interest in history.

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.

What fun this history of presidential assassinations was! Vowell's love of history, and all its bizarre and macabre side tangents, was evident. I found myself relating hilarious tales from this book to my kids who were actually entertained and not just rolling their eyes!

This book was written in 2005 and her utter disdain for President Bush was quite evident. I cannot imagine her tirade if this was written today, given our dangerously moronic current administration.

This is a book my wife and I listened to as we drive to doctor appointments, visited children, etc., so it took us a while to get through it completely. That is not to denigrate the book, which is wonderfully entertaining and educational. Ben (GR) and I have exchanged emails recently about whether listening to an audiobook can be considered "reading." This is a case where I think the book is actually better listened to since it's read by the author who has such a gravely and droll way of reading. It's delightful.

Vowell's description of staying in a bed and breakfast is priceless. It mirrors a stay my wife and I had where the other couple at breakfast bragged about the shooting club and contests at her son's school. Good liberals that we are, my wife asked who paid for all of that? "Why, the NRA, of course," was the reply. We couldn't wait to stuff down the sausages and get the hell out of there. Next bed and breakfast we go to I intend to get a certified letter attesting to the political affiliation of all the guests. Then, of course, there's always Super-8 as an alternative.

Lots of fascinating detail. I had no idea that the Virginia motto, sic semper tyrannis was yelled by John Wilkes Booth as he leeaped on to the stage after shooting Lincoln and that motto was worn on T-shirts by supporters of Timothy McVeigh along with assorted Confederate flags and symbols.

One learns a great deal too. For example, Dr. Samuel Mudd (a distant relative of Roger Mudd, the broadcaster) was convicted of being one of the conspirators who assassinated Lincoln. Vowell delves deeply and fascinatingly into the sequence of events, remarks on his heroic behavior during the malaria epidemic at the Fort (one of the largest ever built, we learn, after a hysterical, stomach-heaving boat journey) on the Dry Tortugas including efforts by his grandson to completely clear his name. I cannot recommend this book enough - but listen to it.

This book is one that I've had on my shelf for many years (I think after seeing Sarah Vowell as a guest on The Daily Show?), but never got around to. Finally, I decided to bite the bullet, although in audiobook form. It's excellent, following the author on a road trip of historical sites that connect to three presidential assassinations: Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley. She has a strong narrative voice, so in addition to learning a lot of cold hard facts, hearing her enthusiasm and passion for the subject probably would've been enjoyable even if I knew 99% of the information already.

It also feels timely - it was published in 2006, and there are many connections she makes between the presidencies and politics of the late 1800s/early 1900s and the Bush era. A lot of those connections and wry comments feel even more applicable and morbid now. (One that stood out to me: a wry remark about a president to have won the election without winning the popular vote, and what are the odds? Oh boy.)

Just a quick survey to pick your brains out there. This is in no way real or based on actual events.

Let's say that a good neighbor, friend and fellow book junkie lends you a paperback book. Let's say it is called... oh I don't know... Assassination Vacation. Suppose the book got very mild water damage on it, just enough to look like you read it on the sea shore of Bermuda. This was in fact no fault of your own, probably water splashed on it when you were washing black grease off of baby ducks where you volunteer at the animal shelter or when you were swimming with the infirm where you are also a charming and beloved volunteer. Suppose said book has been painstakingly marked for an upcoming book club with flags and notes in the margins, etc. rendering it nearly impossible to just replace. Would you...

a. Give it back and never acknowledge said water damage.

b. Wait until a rainy day and return it by putting it on the front porch.

c. Buy a new book for the owner and give both back.

d. Announce the dilemma on the world wide web.

Thanks for your help on this purely hypothetical situation.

This is my second time reading this and I enjoyed it just as much as the first time. Vowell tells you the story of the assassinations of three presidents by visiting the historic locations involved. And nobody does this kind of book better than Vowell who, sadly, hasn't put out a book since 2015.

history never repeats:
"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 Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, weapons which, as I write this, have yet to be found, and which, like the nonexistent evidence of wrongdoing on the Maine, most likely never will be. At the outset of the war, President Bush proclaimed that 'our nation enters into this conflict reluctantly, yet our purpose is sure,' just as President McKinley stated, regarding Cuba, 'It is not a trust we sought; it is a trust from which we will not flinch.' I downloaded the Platt Amendment's provisions toward Cuba from the National Archives' Web site (http://www.archives.gov/), saw the provision requiring the Cubans to lease land to the United States for a naval base, and then thought about the several hundred Taliban and other prisoners of the War on Terror being held there at Guantánamo Bay. I read a history book describing how McKinley's secretary of war Elihu Root finally—after press uproar sparked Senate hearings—got around to ordering court-martials for U.S. officers accused of committing the 'water cure' in the Philippines, and, closing the book, turned on a televised Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in which Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was grilled about photographs of giddy U.S. soldiers proudly pointing at Iraqi prisoners of war they had just tortured at the Abu Ghraib prison. I went to NYU to hear former vice president Al Gore deliver a speech calling for Rumsfeld's resignation; Gore asked of the administration's imploding Iraq policy in general and the Abu Ghraib torture photos in particular, 'How dare they drag the good name of the United States of America through the mud of Saddam Hussein’s torture prison?' Then I walked home through Washington Square Park, where Mark Twain used to hang out on the benches in his white flannel suit when he lived around the corner, and sat down in my living room to reread Twain's accusation that McKinley's deadly Philippines policy has 'debauched America's honor and blackened her face before the world.'"

Okay, I’m totally going to ruin this book for you---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….

This book has been quite an educational journey for me. In both that, I’ve learned all this great stuff about the assassinations of Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley, but also in that I’ve learned that people think I’m a freak.

I’ve been carrying this around for the last few weeks, trying to read a page or two on the Shuttle between work campuses or while I scarf down my dressing free rabbit food… and of course people ask that dreadful question: ‘What are you reading?’ and of course I enthusiastically show them the cover and say ‘OMG! (okay, I actually say ‘Oh My God!’) it’s this great book about this woman who takes this pilgrimage to the sites of the assassinations of three presidents and the homes of their assassins!’ and then I get the look. You know the one, right? The ‘how come I know you?’ look or the ‘You are not what I thought you were’ look and I’m thinking, sometimes to myself and sometimes aloud ‘What did you expect of me? Am I really that soccer mom-ish that I wouldn’t be interested that Guiteau was involved in a sex cult in Upstate NY (that would later go on to design the gravy boat I inherited from my grandmother) but got so frustrated that none of the young girls would sleep with him that he later went and shot President Garfield? (okay, not really, but it’s out there). Am I so that boring that you wouldn’t think that I would find that absofuckinglutely fascinating?’ and then I hmpfh off and continue reading my book with a piece of sprout daintily sitting on my cleavage.

It’s all good.

Then I get depressed that this woman is my age (okay, it’s a little better that she’s 11 months and six days older than me, but not by much) and that she’s done so much and can still readily admit that she loves Peter Gallagher’s eyebrows (umm..who doesn’t?) and that the most violent thing that she’s done is shove a guy who spilled a beer on her at a Sleater-Kinney concert. I want to be her BFF. (But, I want her to take voice lessons first because I would seriously rip her voice box out if I had to actually listen to her speak)

Other things that I Love About This Book

--Her obsessions with all historical plaques. Because who doesn’t slow down when they see one of those signs on the side of the road and go ‘ooh! Was there some sort of carnage committed here? Did someone important die?’ One of my jobs in college was working at one of those souvenier-y type carts in Boston and for a summer, we were set up right by the Boston Massacre site. I loved watching tourists come and gawk at this. (they had a neat red line painted on the ground to lead them around to all things historical) I can see Sarah (yep, first name basis with her, so what?) reading from her copy of The Townshend Acts.

--Her description of Emma Goldman (Or should I say Emma Goldman’s description) losing her virginity and I quote: ”For example, in one breathtaking paragraph she is (I think) losing her virginity to Berkman (she had been married but to an impotent husband); meanwhile, what’s going through her head is the question, “Can idealists be cruel?” It’s thrilling, even though I did want to reach into the page and pat her head, breaking it to her that, Oh my dear, idealists are the cruelest monsters of them all.”

--Her admission that if she could, she would go back into history and rub out her great great grandfather who had joined up with Quantrill’s Bushwackers and was involved in the Lawrence Massacre of 1863 where at least 182 men and boys were killed. (read about it)

--The fact that I cried after reading her walk around the National Mall.

--And finally, that Sarah has made me drop everything to run to Google many, many times.


Then.. ahh.. my poor husband, who at first gave me the stink eye because I was ranting and raving about how great it is that an author can put this historical crap into a book that I would actually read and enjoy and learn from while he stares at the Dos Passos and Gore Vidal books that I’ve hidden so inconspicuously under the coffee table all the while saying ‘I’ll get to it, honest!’. And now that he’s also interested in reading it well, since I started talking about how she compares McKinley’s dealings with the Spanish American War and Bush’s dealings with Operation Iraqi Oil, I take every stoplight opportunity to tell him about the part that I just read involving how cute she and the scientist who works at the Funeral Museum find John Wilkes Booth and the conversation that they have about him.

I’m sorry, honey. I’ll shut up now, but let me just tell you this ONE more thing, okay?’