Sarah Vowell - Assassination Vacation

Pros: Great voice cast, interesting stories, great balance between poignancy, history, and humor. 
Cons: Sometimes veers off into Bush-era politics.

When Sarah Vowell's "The Wordy Shipmates" came out last year, I realized that, even though I knew her from her frequent appearances on NPR and as the voice of Violet Parr in The Incredibles, I hadn't ever read any of her books.  She's become ...

Pros: Great travel log; shows how American history comes alive
Cons: Sometimes hard to follow, spastic

Perhaps it was at the Upper Peninsula Reading Conference at Marquette University. Maybe it was at the Alabama Reading Conference in Huntsville. I can’t seem to remember. But at one of those events (or some five or six presentations in between) I ...

Pros: You'll laugh, you'll learn a lot, and it may even drive you to think. Occasionally.
Cons: Some of the details from autopsies can be slightly gory. Quirky humor not for everyone.

I'd heard interviews with Vowell on either NPR or Conan O'Brien (or both), so when I saw this book in the window of a used-book store I figured it was worth a try. I'm glad I grabbed it. Vowell (the voice of Violet Parr from The Incredibles ...

Pros: Great voice, fun to read, and you learn something as well.
Cons: None come immediately to mind.

It's hard to imagine that a book about history - specifically the history of assassinated presidents - could be considered entertaining, let alone funny. But in her typical polished but quirky style, Sarah Vowell manages to present us with yet another ...

Pros: Lots of interesting history about the assassins and sites related to the assassinations
Cons: ends poorly with a very commonly seen comparison between the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations

This book is part travel memoir about the author's travels to places related to the three Presidential assassinations she covers in her book. It is, of course, also a history of the assassinations. It is the intertwining of her personal experiences of ...

Pros: Interesting treatment of historical themes, wry humor
Cons: Bland music, celebrity appearances overhyped

Note: This is a review of the audiobook of Assassination Vacation. As I expected, I really enjoyed Assassination Vacation, but I was surprised to find that I was also disappointed. The reason? I listened to this after Sarah's ...

Pros: A great romp through some strange historical facts and sites.
Cons: Slightly disjointed ending.

This whirlwind tour of the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley is just plain fun!  Who knew that there was such a thing as assassination tourism, much less that anyone would feel the need to write about it?  However, far from morbid, Sarah Vowell has done a terrific job of taking the reader into the context of these assassinations, and the assassins with wit, humor and intelligence.   Assassination Vacation serves to remind the reader of historical facts while filling in and fleshing it out into something more personal.  It would be great to have her writing our history books!