Total Page : 272
Publisher : Simon Schuster
Publication Date : 2006 01 31
>> A charming amalgam of history and attitude
The beauty of reading history is that the diversity of opinion and interpretation of facts are such a subjective enterprise that one can read many tomes on a single subject such as Abraham Lincoln for example and still get a wide range of understanding and literary experiences We can assuredly add Sarah Vowell to the list of diverse authors of history as she pens a unique view on the assassinations of presidents Lincoln Garfield and McKinley More like hanging out than lecturing Vowell takes us on an untraditional journey into these nation altering events and along the way provides a smart and sassy view of presidential history
Purported to be a study of the first three presidential assassinations Vowell instead allows us to tag along on road trip after road trip as she pursues dark and anachronistic memorabilia pertaining to these tragedies With unique anecdotes and astute observations we learn that the McKinley assassination spot is memorialized by a decaying stone plaque Garfield s is now the National Archives building it was the Baltimore/Potomac railroad station and we follow various paths of the Lincoln conspirators with possibly the most lurid being the prison site of Dr Samuel Mudd in the Dry Tortugas west of Key West Her passion curiosity and literary skills are only exceeded by the nerdy sometimes melancholy always affecting attitude The reader this reader anyway at the end suddenly concludes that this peculiar approach serves the historian well all the while being delightfully entertaining
A work that would captivate my seventeen year old daughter as well as the semi serious historian Sarah Vowell conclusively combines history with sentiment and proves that yes history can be fun
>> A Little Sarah Goes a Long Way
I love listening to Sarah Vowell on NPR so thought I d check out her books Listening to her stories in 15 minute excerpts is much different from an entire book though even trying a chapter at a time I thought I would learn some history in a fun way but instead am subjected to Sarah s precocious name dropping of her favorite bands none of which I ve heard of art gallery openings plays people she knows ad naseum with schizophrenic history facts scattered about in such a flurry that I have no idea what she is talking about She jumps from one thing to another sandwiched in between talking about all the fun she has all the while telling us what an anti social introvert she is after about half a chapter I d had enough Even not knowing any history I can pretty much predict what she is going to say and how she is going to say it since the same cuteness creeps into everything I have to hand it to her doing all the research and being interested in all these things and keeping it in her mind enough to write a book about it but the interesting stories that sound good on NPR read like a jumble of disconnected facts on the page Maybe if she employs a new editor
>> Should Be Titled Sarah Vowell s Hangups Vacation
When I read The Wordy Shipmates by Vowell I thought that detours into Sarah Vowell s past and politics were simply irritating intrusions into an otherwise interesting narrative history
I see now that I was wrong
After reading Assassination Vacation it s clear that Vowell s politics and past are the reasons for which both The Wordy Shipmates and Assassination Vacation were written These books are not about Abraham Lincoln James A Garfield William McKinley John Winthrop or John Cotton these are merely opportunities for Vowell to turn the conversation back on herself I m reminded of the kids who used ask how your Christmas was just so they could tell you about all the cool stuff they got
Once you ve read these two books you ll know the following about Sarah Vowell since the reader is relentlessly beaten over the head with these points She
hates Republicans generally and George W Bush specifically
is from Oklahoma and had ancestors on the Trail of Tears
is an atheist
likes creepy stuff
doesn t like being outside
likes big cities
suffers from multiple neuroses especially a fear of driving
used to work at a college radio station
The last point is so clumsily worked into the narrative of both books that every time Vowell went off on one of her look at me detours I could almost hear Toad the Wet Sprocket playing in the background Want to tell the world all this stuff about you in writing Fine no problem But the literary bait and switch technique is unfair to the reader
What s extremely irritating about Vowell is that she really is a gifted writer She s witty and easy to read and clearly loves history and telling others about it She has all of the skills necessary to be a great popularizer of American history And that s what s so maddening When she can stay on topic she s fantastic the best part of Assassination Vacation is the Garfield section which was both enlightening and amusing She badly needs a less pliable editor who can tighten up her work
I may read more from Sarah Vowell in the future but it ll have to be post Bush Otherwise it ll just be another trip though Sarah Vowell s therapist s office I want to like her stuff so much but the books are going to have to be about something other than herself
