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)

Fantastic

If you like Sarah Vowell on the radio, you will absolutely love this audiobook. I have to take issue with those who complain about Vowell's voice, and say it would be better to read than listen. Quite the opposite. Sarah's quirky voice only adds to the experience -- her unique/odd inflection only gives the words additional layers of meaning and nuanced humor; the storytelling is truly in Vowell's voice, both narratively and literally, which is good. Vowell is a delight, and listening to this audiobook was truly a delightful experience. I would give it 6 stars if I could.

Interesting history

I love Sarah Vowell’s take on history always, and I always learn something new about history. In this book, I learned the back stories about the deaths of Lincoln, Garfield, & McKinley.

Great book. Difficult performance.

This is a wonderfully researched book. It's funny and most of the detours from the main story line are interesting or entertaining. I love her political wit. She had a slightly sardonic way of speaking that'd works well with the story line. She's an endearing reader. But using a sardonic tone of voice produces many drop offs in the tone. As an elderly listener it made it difficult to hear; making me resort to using earphones and concentrate more on simply trying to catch the words.

I did not like at all the interjection of the music which most of the time went along with the reading making it almost impossible for me to hear her words. Equally distracting were all the other voices. Sometimes it worked but most of the time it didn't.

In short I loved the book but had some problems with the performance.

Quirky and Enchanting

I can see how Sarah Vowell's voice may seem grating, but I suppose years of hearing her pieces on "This American Life" has conditioned me to expect greatness whenever I hear it.

This book isn't any different. It reminds me a great deal of some of those bits on "TAL" dealing with historic figures (Lafayette was a recent one). Her obsession with Presidential assassinations is cleverly portrayed in her well-crafted writing style, and her narration is dead-on.

Any complaints about Vowell's "Bush-bashing" should be taken very lightly. She takes a few jabs at our current President, but only to make a few points about the arrogance of assassins... people who deign to make the decision for the country on whether or not a given person is suitable to lead us. I think she raises a very valid point by bringing up Dubya.

A pleasure to listen to, thanks in no small part to Vowell's group of buddies lending narrative variety to our country's cast of characters. Particular kudos to Brad Bird for his funny-but-creepy readings of Charles Guiteau's gallows-poetry.

Painful listening to terrific storytelling

I learned more about Lincoln, Garfield (who?) and McKinley than I ever imagined. The stories of the assassins themselves and their motives, backgrounds and post-shooting history was a step back into an Americana that possesses many surprising similarities to today's America.

Unfortunately, listening to the narrator's voice was so painful for me. I slugged through it with only one break to hear what was coming next because I was on a plane; if I had several breaks, I would've been tempted at any time to not continue, just to avoid that voice! Lisa Simpson-esque, full of awkward starts and stops and pauses -- DEFINITELY listen to the sample first (I didn't).

Classic sarcastic Sarah Vowell

I happen to like Sarah's voice, but if you've never heard it, you need to listen to the sample, as some peole find it jarring.

This is less a comedy than a very well researched, thoughtful history of three assasins of presidents. I really enjoyed it, and it had some humor to it.

I wish I could do 4.5 starts, because I reserve 5 for the absolute best.

Listen before buying

Pretty good material and well written but never should have been read by the author. Her voice is totally annoying especailly her insufferable proclivity to put whole phrases in the middle of very long sentences into questioning inflectives...if it's a question, ask the damn question, if it's not, stop making it sound like one. About one third through it and not sure if I can make it. Please, please, please, listen before you buy!

Extremely enjoyable, yet disappointing

As I expected, I really enjoyed this book, but I was surprised to find that I was also disappointed. The reason? I listened to this after Sarah's other audiobook "The Party Cloudy Patriot" so the bar was set too high. You can read my review of TPCP for more details, but to summarize it, TPCP transcended the audiobook form to far outshine the printed.

When another Sarah Vowell book came out, I was excited. When I read the cast list for "Assassination Vacation," I was even more excited. When I saw that Michael Giacchino, who does the music for two of my favorite TV shows, Lost and Alias, and also composed the music for "The Incredibles," did the music, I was incredibly excited. I was expecting a treat on par with TPCP. AV ended up being entirely different, but still wonderful in its own way.

I found the music to be wholly unremarkable. It was generic-sounding strings played in the background at the beginning and end of each section. In comparison to most other audiobooks, it was more than adequate. However, held up next to the excellent music in TPCP by They Might Be Giants, it pales in comparison.

Perhaps because they are much less plentiful than in TPCP, I didn't enjoy the celebrity voices as much. Looking at the cover, you are lead to believe they have a starring role. This is not the case. However, I am extremely glad they were there. Hearing the words of presidents and assassins in the author's mousy voice would have been jarring.

Once I got past my TPCP-wrought disappointment and found a better comparison, I found an extremely enjoyable book. A better book to compare this to would be "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson. Both books tell history in an interesting way, but they also relate anecdotes about how the author gathered this historical knowledge. This serves to make the history more tangible and real.

In summary, as long as you are not expecting another TPCP, you will find this book very enjoyable.

Vowell is Vonderful

This book was a joy to listen to, not only for Sarah Vowell's wonderfuly, quirky, and satisfyingly dissatisfied-with-our-current-administration perspective, but for the great introduction to our lesser known presidential assassins (and even those well known presidents' lesser known stories) And I say "introduction" even though I did go to high school, because once you've listened to them in this way, you actually feel like you've been introduced to them, and developed an interest in them, for the first time. And then of course there is Vowell's completely fabulous delivery. Having her talking in my ear while I weeded the garden, cleaned the house, and walked my dog was a total joy. I actually PROLONGUED any task I was doing, I was having so much fun. Thank you, Sarah, and thank you, Audible. MORE Sarah Vowell please!

Things I Should have Learned in History Class

Thank you, Sarah Vowell, for being the history teacher I never had. Vowell offers witty, engaging and critical accounts of American history as she reveals her quirky yet endearing affection for our founding fathers and texts. Funny, informative and provocative, I like a women who loves our country while at the same time recognizes its faults, and of course, someone who deeply respects Lincoln, but can admit that J. Wilkes Booth was kind of hot. Post-modern history is here!