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| Assassination Vacation | 
 enlarge | Author: Sarah Vowell
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00 (32.96 RON)
Buy New: $11.20 (26.37 RON)
You Save: $2.80 (6.59 RON) (20%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  138 reviews
Sales Rank: 1166
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8
ISBN: 074326004X
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.099
EAN: 9780743260046
ASIN: 074326004X
Publication Date: January 31, 2006
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
Fluff For History Buffs but... December 4, 2008
I just finished Sarah Vowell's Assasination Vacation and found it to be more interesting and cohesive than Partly Cloudy Patriot. Vowell wit and inquisitiveness are endearing and the book is a page turner more to find out her next reaction to something rather than to find out what she is actually doing.
That said, her leftist, wackily liberal politics get in the way EVERY time she inserts them. And also, despite standing up and shouting her atheism, I don't buy it. I see some inner conflict being worked out on the written page, especially the last chapter.
Those criticisms aside, I think it would be fun to take a trip with Vowell, staring at unread plaques or looking at a statue and being the only person within a mile in any direction who knew who it was of.
Vowell does a good job at threading the interconnectedness of history's charachters and events and drawing on this skill her last few sentences are sublime.
 A good read, but flawed November 30, 2008
This was the first book by Sarah Vowell I've read, although I've been familiar with her work on NPR for many years. Since Sarah Vowell came to fame by writing personal stories and essays, it comes as no surprise that this book is more about Sarah's personal journey of discovery regarding these three assassinations than a straightforward history. In many ways, I found it refreshing. In the book, Ms. Vowell talks about the importance of pilgrimage and veneration of relics throughout history. The journeys in the book, then, become her own personal historical pilgrimage. Experiencing history from this unique approach certainly warrants a book.
That being said, the book contains a lot of really great information on American history, but includes no references or citations. Since this is work for a popular audience, its not surprising that it's not meticulously documented, but at least a list of sources used in constructing the history would have been nice. History is an easily twisted thing, and I felt that some of the facts presented warranted a citation, even in this popular context.
A quick and highly entertaining read, to be sure, but not without its faults. I found an awful lot of poorly-written or confusing sentences, having to re-read sections to make sure I knew what was being referred to. Seems to me that there's a very forgiving editor out there.
I'd recommend it for anyone who wants a fun take on history... but if you're used to reading scholarly work you might find some things a bit irritating.
 A little goes a long way November 30, 2008
The book made me laugh out loud, but the NPR-approved author is glib, always nervously searching for her next punchline, or attempting to insert a proud, treacly story about her nephew Owen.
I love me some liberals and consider myself one, but Vowell is the type who is off the charts nuerotic and nerdy; every bit as grating as her pinched voice suggests. While learning many interesting details about assassination history, an image is assembed of the neurotic author as a nut who doesn't drive (a phobia), has allergies, and is some sort of assassination coompletist. Though the book is at no loss for wit, a reader is always aware how insufferable it must be to be in the presence of Sarah Vowell.
 Fascinating trip through obscure historical byways November 17, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The more things change, the more they remain the same. So what can we learn from an examination of three U.S. presidential assassinations -- those of Abraham Lincoln, and Presidents Garfield and McKinley? A lot if our guide is Sarah Vowell.
Written in a breezy, entertaining way, this book is nonetheless quite serious. Vowell takes us on a trip through history and also across present-day America, exploring the paths of the men who snuffed out the lives of these presidents, everywhere making incisive and insightful connections. Tying these three presidential victims together is the frustrated and unheroic figure of Robert Todd Lincoln, the dead president's son, who lived into the 1920s, was president of the Pullman Company and Secretary of War and who seemed to show up on the scene whenever a president was about to be assassinated.
I learned so much from this book, that the state song of my home state of Maryland is in fact a subtle hymn supporting the Confederacy and slavery, that prior to the introduction of income tax in 1913, the New York Customs House collected an astounding two thirds of the Federal Government's revenue -- and of course it was rife with corruption, that McKinley changed the way the Civil War was viewed, making it a narrative of "valor on both sides" instead of a struggle to abolish the evil of slavery which is still the way many remember it today. It's surprising how much physically remains from these murders -- body parts of the slain presidents preserved in museums, dusty markers by country roadsides, letters, diaries and much more. I learned that Charles Guiteau who killed Garfield, belonged to a weird sect called the Oneida community that practiced free love without male ejaculation. At his trial, he came up with the great defense that he had not killed Garfield, he had merely shot him. It was the doctors who killed him. It had the virtue of being true. They still hanged him.
Vowell draws interesting parallels between the Spanish-American war and our current Iraq War. And of course, we know that Karl Rove modeled himself on McKinley's political strategist, Mark Hanna.
This was a great read, an intellectual feast and a wonderful trip in the company of an expert guide.
For more on me and my bookThe Nazi Hunter: A Novel go to www.alanelsner.com
One of my favorites November 10, 2008
I received this book as a gift and when I read the inside cover, I knew I was going to love it. I enjoy reading about certain events in history, but a lot of the books written about them are slow reads and dry. This book kept my attention and made me laugh! I thoroughly enjoyed it and am now collecting Sarah Vowell's books. I can't wait to read more..
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