
Assassination Vacation
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Narrated by:
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Conan O'Brien
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Stephen King
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Dave Eggers
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Jon Stewart
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By:
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Sarah Vowell
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
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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)
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Quirky but highly informative
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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.Good book but did not translate well to audio
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and engaging way.
Fun stuff
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Thee Best
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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.A must for anyone interested in history.
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Adorably Nerdy History With Pop-Culture References
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Thoughtful, funny, patriotic
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Wow
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Does justice to untold details that paint a bigger picture of these historical periods. And so funny!
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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.A must for anyone interested in history.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.