Assassination Vacation
by Sarah Vowell
Assassination Vacation
by Sarah Vowell
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 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.
Sarah Vowell
Sarah Vowell is the New York Times’ bestselling author of six nonfiction books on American history and
culture. By examining the connections between the American past and present, she offers personal,
often humorous accounts of everything from presidents and their assassins to colonial religious fanatics,
as well as thoughts on American Indians, utopian dreamers, pop music and the odd cranky cartographer.
Vowell’s most recent book, Unfamiliar Fishes (2011) is the intriguing history of our 50th state, Hawaii,
annexed in 1898. Replete with a cast of beguiling and often tragic characters, including an overthrown
Hawaiian queen, whalers, missionaries, sugar barons, Teddy Roosevelt and assorted con men,
Unfamiliar Fishes is another history lesson in Americana as only Vowell can tell it – with brainy wit and
droll humor.
The Wordy Shipmates examines the New England Puritans and their journey to and impact on America.
She studies John Winthrop’s 1630 sermon “A Model of Christian Charity” and the bloody story that
resulted from American exceptionalism. And she also traces the relationship of Winthrop,
Massachusetts’ first governor, and Roger Williams, the Calvinist minister who founded Rhode Island – an
unlikely friendship that was emblematic of the polar extremes of the American foundation. Throughout
she reveals how American history can show up in the most unexpected places in our modern culture,
often in poignant ways.
Her book Assassination Vacation (2005) is a haunting and surprisingly hilarious road trip to tourist sites
devoted to the murders of presidents Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley. Vowell examines what these acts
of political violence reveal about our national character and our contemporary society.
She is also the author of two essay collections, The Partly Cloudy Patriot (2002) and Take the Cannoli
(2000). Her first book Radio On (1997), is her year-long diary of listening to the radio in 1995.
Vowell was a contributing editor for Public Radio International’s This American Life from 1996-2008,
where she produced numerous commentaries and documentaries and toured the country in many of
the program’s live shows. She was one of the original contributors to McSweeney’s, also participating in
many of the quarterly’s readings and shows. She has been a columnist for Salon.com, Time and San
Francisco Weekly and continues to write occasional essays for the opinion page of the New York Times.
Vowell has made numerous appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan
O’Brien and the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. She is the voice of teen superhero Violet Parr in Brad
Bird’s Academy Award-winning The Incredibles, a Pixar Animation Studios film.
Vowell is the president of the board of 826NYC, a nonprofit tutoring and writing center for students
aged 6-18 in Brooklyn.
Discussion Questions
1. Vowell has a unique voice. In Assassination Vacation she recounts the history behind three US
Presidents’ assassinations as she experiences them through touring places that featured
significant in their lives and deaths. However, this is not a straight, chronological history.? Did
you like the author’s writing style and organization? Why or why not?
2. Assassination Vacation is only a partial history of the events surrounding the deaths of
Presidents Lincoln, McKinley, and Garfield. In fact, it is part history and part travelogue into the
industry created by their deaths. In this book, what do you think Vowell is trying to say about
American popular culture both in the past and the present? What does she think about our
obsession with both the victims and the murderers?
3. What were you favorite places Vowell visited in her travels? Who were your favorite people she
met along the way?
4. We are taught quite a bit about Lincoln and his death in school, but McKinley and Garfield are
rarely mentioned. What new things did you learn about Presidents McKinley and Garfield? Has
your opinion of them changed?
5. This is a book about very public deaths, although Vowell goes to great lengths to add humor to
the book. Did you find the book humorous? Did you find it ultimately uplifting or depressing?
6. Did you think Assassination Vacation had enough details? What more would you like to find out
about the “characters” and places in this book? Are you interested in personally visiting any of
the places Vowell described?
7. What are the strengths of this book? Where are its weaknesses? Would you suggest this book to
a friend or another book group? Do you think this book would be a good addition to the reading
list of a high school American History class? Why or why not?
8. In what ways do you think this book might be controversial? Did anything about Vowell’s
travelogue bother you?
9. Vowell was inspired to go on her “assassination vacation,” after seeing the musical, “The
Assassins.” Is there a uniquely themed vacation or tour which would interest you?