Assassination Vacation

By: Sarah Vowell

Narrated by: Conan O'Brien, Stephen King, Dave Eggers, Jon Stewart

Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's 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 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

©2005 Sarah Vowell (P)2005 Simon & Schuster Inc. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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)

We need a map

Now we need a map of Sarah’s travels so we can take some of the same trips. Enjoyed the storytelling, learned a lot. The only problem with listening to this book is I often wanted to go back a hear a certain fact or happening and I had a tough time doing that as there was so much information in this book! I guess I need to learn how to bookmark things as I listen.

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!

Good book but did not translate well to audio

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I found the bits of trivia entertaining, but I would have rather read it than listened to it.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I enjoyed Sarah on NPR, but in this book her reading was dry and there was no emphasis to those lines that would've read as quirky and humorous. Depending on the section it would either bore me or annoy me, instead of pull me into the story.

Do you think Assassination Vacation needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I might be interested, but I would read it instead.

Any additional comments?

It's not a problem with the story, but instead with the narration.

Fun stuff

This book was both educational and entertaining. Vowel's take on things is very interesting, and she weaves the facts and her hilarious perspective on them in a witty
and engaging way.

Thee Best

Probably my favortie book from Sarah Vowell. Great guest narration. Well edited. Great original music that works with the tone of the book. Tippy top notch.

A must for anyone interested in history.

Any additional comments?

Sarah Vowell has such a unique approach to history. This book is filled with fascinating details and was a joy to listen to - especially with her reading it.

Adorably Nerdy History With Pop-Culture References

For the brainy set, I can't think of a better first audiobook experience than Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation. I go weak in the knees for non-fiction, humor, and first-person narrative, making Sarah a triple threat and me the cheapest audiobook date ever. How adorably nerdy is she for planning a road trip vacation to sites of presidential assassinations? Interspersed are smart-alecky anecdotes about the free-love, cultish origins of the Oneida silverware company, and Important Observations about Stephen Sondheim's Assassins musical. And you can always count on Sarah for a well-placed Brady Bunch reference. But no matter how hard she tries, her deadpan voice and glib humor will never mask Sarah Vowell's enduring love of country and civic pride.

Thoughtful, funny, patriotic

Listen to the sample first to see if you like Sarah Vowell’s voice. I like her literary and spoken voices, but not everyone does. I appreciate how she looks back to forgotten parts of American history and places them in context. Not everyone likes the cameo voices; I do, but I’m not sure why some characters get them and others don’t. Wordy Shipmates and Lafayette are my faves of hers so far, but I enjoyed this too.

Wow

This is an amazing audiobook. The cast. The music. The narrator. The content itself. Everything was so good. I can't believe that it's taken me this long to hear it!

Does justice to untold details that paint a bigger picture of these historical periods. And so funny!

Sarah uses her casual informative style to open the windows and air out smaller details of presidents Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley. In so doing, it brings the events to life- I suddenly wasn't snoring over dry dates from a history text!