Assassination Vacation

I enjoyed reading Assassination Vacation*, Sarah Vowell's comical write-up of her seriously taken trips to visit all tourism sites related to the assassinations of Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley. It makes me want to go see the musical "Assassins," where John Wilkes Booth, Charles Guiteau and Leon Czolgosz sing and dance on stage, which she attends.

The book provides fascinating backgrounds on the assassins and their Presidential targets who met untimely deaths, while intertwining historical trivia, such as that Robert Todd Lincoln, Lincoln's son, was in close proximity to the murders of all three Presidents, like a jinx of doom.

Also, John Wilkes Booth's brother, the actor Edwin Booth, once saved Robert Todd Lincoln's life after he fell from a train platform onto the tracks. A Booth that saved a Lincoln's life.

The book is about the craziness of the historical tourism business, which Vowell loves whole-heartedly. Along with the general stops like Ford's Theatre, she visits the New England home of the Lincoln Memorial sculptor, Dry Tortugas off the coast of Florida where the conspirators of Lincoln's death were imprisoned, and many other odd places.

One notable trivia point for D.C. tourism: the Lincoln Memorial sculptor was mortified to find out that after all of his hard work, the light from the reflecting pool bounced up onto Lincoln's face, looking as if a flashlight had been held up under his chin. Eventually, ceiling lights were installed so that Lincoln could look dignified and pensive, as intended. Poor Lincoln. He looked scary!

For more historical trivia and context about one of the most presidentially violent times in America, read Assassination Vacation.

Video: Tony Award performance of the Broadway musical Assassins.



*My brother Chris and his wife Cathy introduced me to this good read by giving it to me as a birthday present. Thanks!