Obsession can be a very strange hobby. When one becomes so enamored over a person, place, or thing that they pursue it to absurd lengths, certain questions inevitably arise about their state of mind.
Sarah Vowell is one such fanatic. I’ve just finished reading her book, Assassination Vacation in which she admits to harboring a bizarre fascination with presidential assassinations. In fact, her book is somewhat of a travelogue covering her pilgrimage to every historical location that has to do with the assassination of three American presidents; Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield and William McKinley.
And, believe it or not, it makes for a great read.
The most fascinating section is the one which deals with Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was, after all, the most famous of the three assassinated presidents and today there remains many historic sights that morbidly curious tourists such as Vowell can visit; the theater where he was shot, the place where he died, the museum where fragments of his skull are exhibited, the house where his assassin sought medical aid (now a museum), the prison where the doctor who helped him was eventually sent after being (wrongly?) convicted as an accomplice, the Lincoln Memorial (of course), as well as many obscure locations with seemingly tenuous, yet as we learn, legitimate connections with the assassination.
I’ve always found American history to be rather boring but Vowell has a way of really spicing it up with her entertaining, sarcastic, and often quirky approach. She throws in numerous, little-known historical oddities (Lincoln’s son, Todd was present at all three assassinations) and often takes off on random tangents that keep the reader amused.
Most importantly from a Gadling perspective, this history nerd provides a blueprint for historical travel where one can easily trace the important events that transpire when a president is assassinated and the locations where they took place. I don’t plan on replicating her macabre pilgrimage any time soon, but I sure enjoyed reading about it!