Try free for 30 days
-
Assassination Vacation
- Narrated by: Conan O'Brien, Stephen King, Dave Eggers, Jon Stewart
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Abridged Audiobook
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Politics & Activism
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for $27.79
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
People who bought this also bought...
-
The Partly Cloudy Patriot
- By: Sarah Vowell
- Narrated by: Sarah Vowell, Conan O'Brien, Seth Green, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sarah Vowell travels through the American past and investigates the dusty, bumpy roads of her own life. Her essays confront a wide range of subjects, icons, and historical moments: Ike, Teddy Roosevelt, and Bill Clinton; Canadian Mounties and German Filmmakers; Tom Cruise and Buffy the Vampire Slayer; twins and nerds; the Gettysburg Address, the State of the Union, and George W. Bush's inauguration. The result is an engrossing audiobook, capturing Vowell's memorable wit and her keen social commentary.
-
-
A mix of earnest sincerity and sly irony
- By Amazon Customer on 07-03-2017
-
Looking Like the Enemy
- My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese American Internment Camps
- By: Mary Matsuda Gruenewald
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The author at 16 years old was evacuated with her family to an internment camp for Japanese Americans, along with 110,000 other people of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast. She faced an indefinite sentence behind barbed wire in crowded, primitive camps. She struggled for survival and dignity, and endured psychological scarring that has lasted a lifetime. This memoir is told from the heart and mind of a woman now nearly eighty years old who experienced the challenges and wounds of her internment at a crucial point in her development as a young adult.
-
Theroux the Keyhole
- Diaries of a Grounded Documentary Maker
- By: Louis Theroux
- Narrated by: Louis Theroux
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like millions of others, Louis’ plans were mothballed by the onset of COVID. Unable to escape to the porn sets, prisons and maximum-security psychiatric units that are his usual journalistic beat, he began reporting on a location even more full of pitfalls and hostile objects of inquiry: his own home during a pandemic. Theroux the Keyhole is an honest, hilarious and ultimately heartwarming diary of the weirdness of family life in COVID World.
-
-
A different side to Louis
- By Amazon Customer on 15-11-2021
-
Empire of Pain
- The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
- By: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Sackler name adorns the walls of many storied institutions–Harvard; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Oxford; the Louvre. They are one of the richest families in the world, known for their lavish donations in the arts and the sciences. The source of the family fortune was vague, however, until it emerged that the Sacklers were responsible for making and marketing Oxycontin, a blockbuster painkiller that was a catalyst for the opioid crisis–an international epidemic of drug addiction which has killed nearly half a million people.
-
-
Fascinating and impressive
- By Missamity on 03-05-2021
-
Me Talk Pretty One Day
- By: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anyone who has heard David Sedaris speaking live or on the radio will tell you that a collection from him is cause for jubilation. A move to Paris from New York inspired these hilarious pieces, including 'Me Talk Pretty One Day', about his attempts to learn French from a sadistic teacher who declares that 'every day spent with you is like having a caesarean section'.
-
-
This story had me laughing out loud all the time.
- By Chris on 09-07-2020
-
Trail of Tears
- The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation
- By: John Ehle
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 19 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sixth-generation North Carolinian, highly-acclaimed author John Ehle grew up on former Cherokee hunting grounds. His experience as an accomplished novelist, combined with his extensive, meticulous research, culminates in this moving tragedy rich with historical detail.
-
The Partly Cloudy Patriot
- By: Sarah Vowell
- Narrated by: Sarah Vowell, Conan O'Brien, Seth Green, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sarah Vowell travels through the American past and investigates the dusty, bumpy roads of her own life. Her essays confront a wide range of subjects, icons, and historical moments: Ike, Teddy Roosevelt, and Bill Clinton; Canadian Mounties and German Filmmakers; Tom Cruise and Buffy the Vampire Slayer; twins and nerds; the Gettysburg Address, the State of the Union, and George W. Bush's inauguration. The result is an engrossing audiobook, capturing Vowell's memorable wit and her keen social commentary.
-
-
A mix of earnest sincerity and sly irony
- By Amazon Customer on 07-03-2017
-
Looking Like the Enemy
- My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese American Internment Camps
- By: Mary Matsuda Gruenewald
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The author at 16 years old was evacuated with her family to an internment camp for Japanese Americans, along with 110,000 other people of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast. She faced an indefinite sentence behind barbed wire in crowded, primitive camps. She struggled for survival and dignity, and endured psychological scarring that has lasted a lifetime. This memoir is told from the heart and mind of a woman now nearly eighty years old who experienced the challenges and wounds of her internment at a crucial point in her development as a young adult.
-
Theroux the Keyhole
- Diaries of a Grounded Documentary Maker
- By: Louis Theroux
- Narrated by: Louis Theroux
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like millions of others, Louis’ plans were mothballed by the onset of COVID. Unable to escape to the porn sets, prisons and maximum-security psychiatric units that are his usual journalistic beat, he began reporting on a location even more full of pitfalls and hostile objects of inquiry: his own home during a pandemic. Theroux the Keyhole is an honest, hilarious and ultimately heartwarming diary of the weirdness of family life in COVID World.
-
-
A different side to Louis
- By Amazon Customer on 15-11-2021
-
Empire of Pain
- The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
- By: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Sackler name adorns the walls of many storied institutions–Harvard; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Oxford; the Louvre. They are one of the richest families in the world, known for their lavish donations in the arts and the sciences. The source of the family fortune was vague, however, until it emerged that the Sacklers were responsible for making and marketing Oxycontin, a blockbuster painkiller that was a catalyst for the opioid crisis–an international epidemic of drug addiction which has killed nearly half a million people.
-
-
Fascinating and impressive
- By Missamity on 03-05-2021
-
Me Talk Pretty One Day
- By: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anyone who has heard David Sedaris speaking live or on the radio will tell you that a collection from him is cause for jubilation. A move to Paris from New York inspired these hilarious pieces, including 'Me Talk Pretty One Day', about his attempts to learn French from a sadistic teacher who declares that 'every day spent with you is like having a caesarean section'.
-
-
This story had me laughing out loud all the time.
- By Chris on 09-07-2020
-
Trail of Tears
- The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation
- By: John Ehle
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 19 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sixth-generation North Carolinian, highly-acclaimed author John Ehle grew up on former Cherokee hunting grounds. His experience as an accomplished novelist, combined with his extensive, meticulous research, culminates in this moving tragedy rich with historical detail.
-
Happy-Go-Lucky
- By: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Back when restaurant menus were still printed on paper, and wearing a mask—or not—was a decision made mostly on Halloween, David Sedaris spent his time doing normal things. As Happy-Go-Lucky opens, he is learning to shoot guns with his sister, visiting muddy flea markets in Serbia, buying gummy worms to feed to ants, and telling his nonagenarian father wheelchair jokes. But then the pandemic hits, and like so many others, he's stuck in lockdown, unable to tour and read for audiences, the part of his work he loves most.
-
-
Never fails…
- By Sarah L. Butler on 28-06-2022
-
Lucky Jim
- Penguin Modern Classics
- By: Kingsley Amis
- Narrated by: James Lailey
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jim Dixon has accidentally fallen into a job at one of Britain's new red brick universities. A moderately successful future in the History Department beckons. As long as Jim can survive a madrigal-singing weekend at Professor Welch's, deliver a lecture on 'Merrie England' and resist Christine, the hopelessly desirable girlfriend of Welch's awful son Bertrand.
-
-
Brilliantly written and read!
- By Brendan on 27-08-2021
-
The Razor's Edge
- By: W. Somerset Maugham
- Narrated by: Gordon Griffin
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Larry Darrell is a young American in search of the absolute. The progress of this spiritual odyssey involves him with some of Maugham's most brilliant characters: his fiancée Isabel, whose choice between love and wealth have lifelong repercussions; and Elliot Templeton, her uncle, a classic expatriate American snob. The most ambitious of Maugham's novels, this is also one in which Maugham himself plays a considerable part as he wanders in and out of the story, to observe his characters struggling with their fates.
-
-
A fascinating view of a time long past
- By davidm on 26-06-2015
-
Half of a Yellow Sun
- By: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Narrated by: Zainab Jah
- Length: 18 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ugwu, a boy from a poor village, works as a houseboy for a university professor. Olanna, a young woman, has abandoned her life of privilege in Lagos to live with her charismatic new lover, the professor. And Richard, a shy English writer, is in thrall to Olanna's enigmatic twin sister. As the horrific Biafran War engulfs them, they are thrown together and pulled apart in ways they had never imagined.
-
-
Opened my Eyes to a Whole World
- By Naalongo Acholi on 12-09-2021
-
The Storm Before the Storm
- The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic
- By: Mike Duncan
- Narrated by: Mike Duncan
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Roman Republic was one of the most remarkable achievements in the history of civilization. After its founding in 509 BCE, the Romans refused to allow a single leader to seize control of the state and grab absolute power. The Roman commitment to cooperative government and peaceful transfers of power was unmatched in the history of the ancient world. But by the year 133 BCE, the republican system was unable to cope with the vast empire Rome now ruled.
-
-
Another Mike Duncan book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- By Kindle Customer on 27-02-2018
-
Braiding Sweetgrass
- Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
- By: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Narrated by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers.
-
-
Most important & beautiful book I’ve ever read
- By Anonymous User on 28-07-2020
Publisher's Summary
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
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)
More from the same
Narrator
What listeners say about Assassination Vacation
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Vanessa Young
- 26-04-2016
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.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 07-08-2019
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.
-
Overall

- Rachel
- 17-08-2005
extremely entertaining and informative
There's a moment in this book where Sarah Vowell is being told about the history of the Dry Tortugas National Park by a park ranger with such infectious enthusiasm for his subject that Ms. Vowell relates that she felt giddy listening to him, as if visiting the Dry Tortugas was one of the very luckiest things that could happen to a girl. That's what listening to "Assassination Vacation" was like for me. The material is extremely interesting--this book covers the assassinations of Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley, including related details about the strange sexual ideology of the Oneida community, John Wilkes Booth's brother's illustrious career as a Shakespearean actor, and Vowell's 3-year-old nephew's obsession with graveyards. More importantly, Vowell's enthusiasm for her subject conveyed by her Lisa Simpson-soprano is so infectious that I wanted to book a trip to the Dry Tortugas to see where John Wilkes Booth's doctor was imprisoned myself.
This is a really fun listen replete with gee-whiz factoids I can't stop relating to my friends. The connections between the three different assassinations discussed here are expecially fascinating.
Vowell's patriotism is also inspiring. The devotion to country that lead Ms. Vowell to complete this homage to fallen presidents gives "Assassination Vacation" a genuine sweetness completely different from the my-country-right-or-wrong saccharine so popular in today's political climate. Ms. Vowell's sort of patriotism--the kind that visits the Dry Tortugas to learn more about our nation's history, the kind that recognizes our country's failings rather than whitewashing them, the kind that loves America both for what it stands for and for what it really is--this is the kind of love for country we need more of, not the facile nationalism that confuses what is and what ought to be.
38 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Michael Harrison
- 02-08-2005
Quirky and Enchanting
I can see how Sarah Vowell's voice may seem grating, but I suppose years of hearing her pieces on "This American Life" has conditioned me to expect greatness whenever I hear it.
This book isn't any different. It reminds me a great deal of some of those bits on "TAL" dealing with historic figures (Lafayette was a recent one). Her obsession with Presidential assassinations is cleverly portrayed in her well-crafted writing style, and her narration is dead-on.
Any complaints about Vowell's "Bush-bashing" should be taken very lightly. She takes a few jabs at our current President, but only to make a few points about the arrogance of assassins... people who deign to make the decision for the country on whether or not a given person is suitable to lead us. I think she raises a very valid point by bringing up Dubya.
A pleasure to listen to, thanks in no small part to Vowell's group of buddies lending narrative variety to our country's cast of characters. Particular kudos to Brad Bird for his funny-but-creepy readings of Charles Guiteau's gallows-poetry.
29 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- BFeld
- 10-12-2008
Fantastic
If only all history could be read (heard) in this format. Vowell has made an art out of putting history, places, and stories together into an entertaining thriller of a book. I was a history major in college but I never had any history delivered to me with such style and skill. She should continue to do more works just like this and we will all be wiser!
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Clarkey
- 21-04-2005
Brilliant!
This is superb: funny, scholarly and fascinating. Ms. Vowell?s journey in the footsteps of presidential assassins is one of the best books I?ve downloaded from Audible.
36 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Happy wanderer
- 27-02-2009
History is a personal thing
An engrossing book! Sarah Vowell presents history in the same way that I often learn it. It's not linear, and it is linked to personal experiences. She took me on a journey -- with the Lincoln Memorial as an enduring place for our return. I hated to have to occasionally interrupt the journey!
She makes no pretense of being without bias. Her lens is personal. And isn't that the way it is with all of us?
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Christopher
- 23-06-2005
Delightful - funny and interesting
This book was a lot of fun. Sarah Vowell's research, insights, and sense of humor make this a great book. One would probably either really enjoy or really hate her little-girl voice. I, for one, thought that it added to experience of the book. Her left-leaning political views will put some off, but most will enjoy the ride.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Chris
- 29-07-2006
Couldn't get past the reader's voice!
It seems witty enough - the premise looked interesting - but I'm afraid if I want to experience this I'll have to go out and buy the hardcopy.
It's definitely my fault - I almost always listen to the previews before buying, but this one time I didn't preview it and just added it to my Next Listen.
The author/reader's voice is so grating that I can't continue. The "up-talking" at the end of sentences on top of the general tonality of her voice sent me over the edge after 15 minutes.
If you're picky about your readers please preview this first.
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Chris Dorosky
- 24-04-2005
Classic sarcastic Sarah Vowell
I happen to like Sarah's voice, but if you've never heard it, you need to listen to the sample, as some peole find it jarring.
This is less a comedy than a very well researched, thoughtful history of three assasins of presidents. I really enjoyed it, and it had some humor to it.
I wish I could do 4.5 starts, because I reserve 5 for the absolute best.
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Lisa
- 07-07-2005
Quirky but highly informative
Both my husband and I listened to this book, as did our children when they were forced to in the car. Agreed, her delivery is a bit odd, and her voice takes a bit of getting used to, but I learned more US history (which says a lot, since that was my minor in university) from the 5 hours of this book than I learned in an entire university course. The depth of her knowledge on this topic is extensive, and her patriotism -- being defined as a true love for her country, not the flag-waving, blind devotion to AMERICA that the Right seems to define as the only "true" patriotism -- is undeniable. Her quirky humour kept me laughing, and the historical trivia kept me riveted through four or five straight days of commuting. I would recommend this to anyone who wants a different perspective on American history -- should be a hit with fans of Jon Stewart!
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Customer o Kindle
- 11-12-2020
A little dated now but SO GOOD
This is one of my enduring favorites. Just a little (sorry, this is a lazy and overused word) quirky without being weird. Fascinating history and charming, friendly companions. Great guest spot narrators, and Vowell herself is engaging and wry, a perfect fit. Her political and social commentary seems so mild listening back to this early 00s work, even when she touches on her own family lineage and racial trauma. She describes a little of the real tragedy, upheaval, and suffering without getting either sappy or enraged, but she doesn't minimize the subjects' experience. I think relistening to this book has given me a glimmer of hope--one day, we will get to have a healthier perspective on 2020.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 03-08-2014
A lovely story about assassination and family
What did you like most about Assassination Vacation?
The little details.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Assassination Vacation?
Robert Todd Lincoln rejuvenating the life of the brother of the murderer of the his father.
Which scene did you most enjoy?
See above
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Robert Todd Lincoln's fear of presidential death
Any additional comments?
These are lovely books telling a story we only hear mentioned.
-
Overall

- G. Evans
- 12-06-2011
Hard to follow...
I really bought this for the grim but light hearted look on the history of presidential assasinations that this book promised as well as the fact that it has many famous narrators. Unfortunately the main narrator has a very distinctive voice which after a while, and bearing in mind this might just be me, but it does begin to grate a little. In fact after a about 5 hours i found that i could not concentrate on the audio because of how her voice comes across. Also, unless your listening really hard you do miss most of the other voices of the other people - theres no announcement they just come in say there bit and then disappear. I also felt that many of the wacky anecdotes seemed to be crushed together with no split or pause between them and i never knew which president she was referring to and at what time. I may have to give this another listen as I was fairly interested in the topic but for now my rating remains at a low one star :(
1 person found this helpful
16 Best Audiobooks by Aboriginal Authors
Across genres, there’s no shortage of brilliant titles from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers of Australia.



16 Audiobooks Full of Life Hacks to Live By
Looking to improve yourself mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually? This is where to start.



14 Feel-Good Audiobooks to Brighten Up Your Day
The Audible library is packed with feel-good audiobooks that will lighten the soul and fill the heart with joy.


