Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
259 pages
Published 2005
Read from June 22 to June 23
Rating: ★★★★ out of 5
Another thoroughly engaging history book / travel memoir / snarky NPR segment from Vowell, this one tracing the physical sites associated with (and the coincidental connections between) assassinations of three nineteenth century presidents: Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley. Along the way we learn about the Oneida Community and the slow diminution of the Republican party, from the grand old party of Lincoln to the Southern Strategists of the Bush/Rove/Ashcroft era. As with all Vowell books, the central draw is more the entertainment value than the depth of didacticism; nevertheless, I feel like I learned quite a bit. My tastes in history tend toward the ancient and the primeval -- when it comes to American history, I check out around the close of the Seven Years' War -- so I was unexpectedly engrossed by Vowell's breezy overview of the naked corruption and boss politics of the Gilded Age, an era I really should learn more about.
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