Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

Jim mentioned the book Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell in one of his earlier entries. I first heard about the book while watching BookSpan or the Book Network on cable TV during a question and answer session with the author Sarah Vowell. Ms. Vowell is a regular contributor to National Public Radio's (NPR) American Life and the voice of teenage superhero Violet Parr on The Incredibles. In Assassination Vacation Sarah takes the reader on a tour of sites and monuments that pay homage to Presidents Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley visiting everything from grave sites and simple plaques (like the one in Buffalo that marks the place where McKinley was shot) to places like the National Museum of Health and Medicine, where fragments of Lincoln's skull are on display. Ms. Vowell is a very gifted writer and researcher and her books are filled with historical facts and trivia sprinkled with humor and occasionally her liberal views of the current Administration. She is also the author of Radio On: A Listener's Diary; Take the Cannoli: Stories From the New World; and The Partly Cloudy Patriot. I haven't read any of her other works but I highly recommend Assassination Vacation. Any of you are welcome to borrow my copy as soon as Jim is done with it.

2 comments:

Diana said...

Oooh,this looks like a good read. Thanks for the recommendation.

Jim said...

I'm just about done (twenty more pages when I get a chance). It is a great read. Let me know who is next and I will get this copy to you.