Assassination Vacation

Transporting us from Buffalo to Alaska, Washington to Key West, Vowell has crafted a narrative that is much more than a historical travelogue – it is the disturbing and mesmerising story of how American death has been manipulated by popular culture, including film, literature, and – the author’s favourite – historical tourism. Skilfully belying the undercurrents of loss and violence that course through her journey, Vowell injects a range of lighter detours along the way, including mummies, show tunes, mean-spirited totem poles, a nineteenth-century biblical sex cult – and exactly how Lincoln’s Republican Party became Bush’s Republican Party. Assassination Vacation is a fascinating, informative, and richly entertaining look at the myriad ways in which political assassinations have altered and shaped our nation’s history.

Sarah Vowell is a contributing editor for public radio's This American Life and has written for Time, Esquire, GQ, Spin, Salon, McSweeneys, The Village Voice, and the Los Angeles Times. She is the author of Radio On, Take the Cannoli, and The Partly Cloudy Patriot. She lives in New York City.