Assassination Vacation

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* Duration: 07:20:12 *

'New York Times' best-selling author of 'The Worldly Shipmates' and contributor to NPR's 'The American Life ' Sarah Vowell embarks on a road trip to sites of political violence., from Washington D.C. to Alaska, to better understand our nation's ever evolving political system and history.

Sarah Vowell exposes the glorious conundrums of American history and culture with wit, probity, and an irreverent sense of humor. With
'ASSASSINATION VACATION'
he takes us on a road trip like no other - a journey to the pit stops of American political murder and through the myriad ways they have been used for fun and profit, for political and cultural advantage.

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 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 all kinds of lighter diversions along the way 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:

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Conan O'Brien...Robert Todd Lincoln
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Eric Bogosian...John Wilkes Booth
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Stephen King...President Abraham Lincoln
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Dave Eggers...Mike Ryan
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Catherine Keener...Gretchen Worden
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Jon Stewart...President James A. Garfield
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Tony Kushner...John Humphrey Noyes
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Brad Bird...Charles Guiteau & Emma Goldman
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Daniel Handler...President William McKinley
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Greg Giraldo...President Theodore Roosevelt
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David Rakoff...Leon Czolgosz