Sarah Vowell exposes the glorious conundrums of American history and culture with wit, probity, and an irreverent sense of humor. With Assassination Vacation, she 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 (present at the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley) 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 lighter diversions into the lives of the three presidents and their assassins, including mummies, show tunes, mean-spirited totem poles, and a nineteenth-century biblical sex cult. IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE: Conan O'Brien Robert Todd Lincoln Eric Bogosian John Wilkes Booth Stephen King President Abraham Lincoln Dave Eggers Mike Ryan Catherine Keener Gretchen Worden Jon Stewart President James A. Garfield Tony Kushner John Humphrey Noyes Brad Bird Charles Guiteau & Emma Goldman Daniel Handler President William McKinley Greg Giraldo President Theodore Roosevelt David Rakoff Leon Czolgosz
New York Times bestselling author Chuck Klosterman asks questions that are profound in their simplicity: How certain are we about our understanding of gravity? How certain are we about our understanding of time? What will be the defining memory of r...
*A New York Times Bestseller*The first definitive, unauthorized, behind-the-scenes cultural history of the Bachelor franchise, America’s favorite guilty pleasure.For sixteen years and thirty-six seasons, the Bachelor franchise has be...
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Narrator: Anne Helen Petersen Published: 06/20/2017
From the brilliantly witty and exuberant New York Times bestselling author Ken Jennings, a history of humor—from fart jokes on clay Sumerian tablets all the way up to the latest Twitter gags and Facebook memes—that tells the story of how...
One of the New York Times Book Review's Ten Best Books of the YearWinner of the James Beard AwardAuthor of #1 New York Times Bestsellers In Defense of Food and Food RulesWhat should we have for dinne...
NATIONAL BESTSELLER A Book of the Year Selection for Inc. and Library Journal“This book picks up where The Tipping Point left off." -- Adam Grant, Wharton professor and New York Times bestselling author of ORIGINALS and GIV...
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas author Hunter S. Thompson rocked the literary WD with his mind-bending style of Gonzo journalism. First published in 1966, Hell’s Angels is Thompson’s up-close and personal look at the infamous motorcycle ...
In The 50th Law, hip hop and pop culture icon 50 Cent (aka Curtis Jackson) joins forces with Robert Greene, bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power, to write a “bible” for success in life and work based on a single principle: fear no...
Something has been going wrong on many college campuses in the last few years. Speakers are shouted down. Students and professors say they are walking on eggshells and are afraid to speak honestly. Rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide are risin...
