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Alternate Ways to Travel
ASSASSINATION VACATION
August 18, 2005
By Sarah Vowell
You may not normally equate "presidential assassinations" with "a good idea for a leisurely trip" but why not? It's fun reading—especially when voiced by NPR's "This American Life" contributor Sarah Vowell. In a book that follows the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley, Vowell squeezes in all the juicy irreverence and self-deprecating humor you'd expect to find in a brainy friend's diary. I mean, if you're reduced to going on a literary trip instead of an actual one, why not learn a little something about the places and people who helped shape our country? We're not talking stale travelogue or pedantic American studies here, people—history textbook, this is not. (SC)