| Apr ’05 |
| 30 |
| 12:00 am |
Friday, April 15th, 6:00 PM
Sarah Vowell book event for Assassination Vacation
sponsored by Quimby’s and the Chicago Public Library.
FREE
PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT IS NOT AT QUIMBYS!
Head Down to the
Harold Washington Library
400 S. State Street
Chicago IL 60605
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 in which 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 for 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 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 nineteenth century biblical sex cult.
SARAH VOWELL is the author of The Partly Cloudy Patriot, Take the Cannoli, and Radio On. She is a contributing editor for public radio’s This American Life. She is also a McSweeney’s person, and the voice of teenage superhero Violet Parr in Pixar Animation Studios’ The Incredibles. She lives in New York City.
