Assassination Vacation
by Sarah Vowell
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Book Summary Information
Author: Sarah VowellEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Deckle Edge
Published: 2005-03-29
ISBN: 0743260031
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Book Reviews of Assassination Vacation
Book Review: History as entertainment...
Summary: 5 Stars
It is hard to classify Sarah Vowell, author of Assassination Vacation. Vowell claims not to be a real historian, but instead, tries to entertain. Critics have called her a social observer. She is definitely a historical and political observer as well. However we categorize her, Vowell sews together dozens of stories about the assassinations of presidents Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley to produce an impressive quilt.
While most people vacation in happier settings (the beach, Disney World, etc.), Vowell sets out on a pilgrimage to bring the stories of these three assassinations to life. She travels to Alaska to see totem poles and the Dry Tortugas to see the cell of Dr. Samuel Mudd. She visits presidential homes, offices, assassination sites and places of death. She tours museums seeking out bone fragments, bloodied garments, murder weapons and autopsy tools. She traces the escape route of John Wilkes Booth, stopping at the locations where he stopped. And she visits graves, tombs and monuments. As she travels, she regales us with numerous stories and observations that tie these events together.
Vowell states that "history is full of really good stories," and many that she tells are not common knowledge. Many of the stories are funny, as when she compares the black vomit of yellow fever to her more festive vomiting of key lime yogurt on a boat ride to Fort Jefferson. Some are filled with irony. When she sees both Confederate and American flag displays at a restaurant in Maryland, she observes that they're geared for those who are open-mined enough "of hating blacks and Arabs at the same time." Some of her stories are touching. When Garfield's doctors determined that moving the ailing president to his summer home in Long Branch, NJ would be better for his recovery, the residents of Long Branch laid a special railroad spur of 3200 feet to his house. When his train stalled near the end, they pushed his car by hand to its final destination. Many of her stories provide amazing coincidences. Robert Todd Lincoln was present or nearby all three assassinations. Also, as a young boy, Robert Todd Lincoln was rescued off a train track by Edwin Booth (John Wilkes Booth's brother). Also, at the same time as Edwin Booth's funeral, three floors of Ford's Theatre collapsed, killing 22 federal employees. Some of the stories are very disturbing. For instance, the site of John Wilkes Booth's death has become a Confederate shrine. Or that the Maryland State song, Maryland, My Maryland, contains pro-Confederate lyrics ("She spurns the Northern scum"). Most disturbing is that when Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people in Oklahoma, he was wearing a T-shirt with Abraham Lincoln on the front with the worlds "Sic Semper Tyrannis" underneath. After the bombing, Southern Partisan (the pro-Confederate catalog and magazine where McVeigh purchased the shirt) had a hard time keeping them in stock.
Vowell is also a shrewd observer. She describes Maryland as "it was the border state, a schizophrenic no-man's-land with the North at its door and the South in its heart." Or, "whereas the living in Baltimore could use a renovation, the dead rest in resplendent peace." She is amazing at bringing the presidents and their assassins to life.
It is refreshing to read a book where the author has such a fascination and enthusiasm for history. The only author today that I can compare her to is Tony Horwitz (Confederates in the Attic). In one story, Vowell tells us that the nickname for Stephen Douglas was The Little Giant. That moniker can also be used to describe Sarah Vowell. While she may be short of stature, her talent is huge.
Summary of Assassination Vacation
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.
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