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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.
Simon and Schuster
January 2006
272 pages
ISBN: 074326004X
Trade Size (reprint)
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Non-Fiction | Non-Fiction Memoir | Non-Fiction Biography
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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