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