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Assassination Vacation

By: Sarah Vowell
Narrated by: Conan O'Brien, Stephen King, Dave Eggers, Jon Stewart
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Publisher's Summary

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 lighter diversions into the lives of the three presidents and their assassins, including mummies, show tunes, mean-spirited totem poles, and a 19th-century biblical sex cult.

In Order of Appearance:
Conan O'Brien...Robert Todd Lincoln
Eric Bogosian...John Wilkes Booth
Stephen King...President Abraham Lincoln
Dave Eggers...Mike Ryan
Catherine Keener...Gretchen Worden
Jon Stewart...President James A. Garfield
Tony Kushner...John Humphrey Noyes
Brad Bird...Charles Guiteau & Emma Goldman
Daniel Handler...President William McKinley
Greg Giraldo...President Theodore Roosevelt
David Rakoff...Leon Czolgosz

©2005 Sarah Vowell (P)2005 Simon & Schuster Inc. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Presidents & Heads of State Murder Americas United States Travel Writing & Commentary Comedy & Humour
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Critic Reviews

  • 2005 Audie Award Nominee, Multi-Voiced Performance
  • 2005 Publishers Weekly Listen Up Award, Humor

"Vowell has a perspective on American history that is definitely funny." (School Library Journal)
"Wacky, weirdly enthralling....This is history at its most morbid and most fascinating and, fortunately, one needn't share Vowell's interest in the macabre to thoroughly enjoy this unusual tour." (Publishers Weekly)
"An engaging tour....Audiobook listeners get serious bang for their buck, including guest appearances by Stephen King (as Lincoln), Jon Stewart, Conan O'Brien, and Eric Bogosian, among others." (AudioFile)

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Profile Image for Vanessa Young

Brilliant book.

Loved this book, Sarah is so enthusiastic and her attention to detail is flawless. a unique writer and narrator, if you need to know EXACTLY what happened after Lincoln's assasination, Sarah Vowell is the writer for you. I particularly enjoyed Owen's tiny role in the book, it is great to read about a real child.

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One of my favourite books of the year!

I was incredibly pleasantly surprised by this book! I went in expecting a somewhat dry history book, which I would have been fine with that’s kind of what I signed up for, but this book managed to blend interesting history facts with super compelling personal stories and interesting observations. I never thought a book could make me care about James A. Garfield but I found myself really liking the man and getting a better understanding of him as a person, but just a historical figure. This book made me care about these people not just as historical figures but as real people with lives and families, asking with educating me about a lot of history I wasn’t aware of. This combined with Vowell’s excellent inner monologue style of writing and incredibly good narrating made this book quickly shoot up my list of favourite books of the year, if not ever! I would (and do) recommend this book to everyone and I eagerly look forward to Vowell’s future books.

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