I'm late to the Assassination Vacation party, but I'm here. What a book! This book reminds me very strongly of a few close friends of mine - the ridiculous missions, the obsession with American presidential history and radical politics, and the deep appreciation for a good coincidence. I can recommend this book to anyone, although since it seems like everyone has already recommended it to me and I'm late I'll just stop repeating myself.
Dave Welch's interview with Vowell at Powells.com is a fun read. Dave Welch asks Sarah about her love for Siskel & Ebert and her response is worth quoting:
That show was important for me as a hick kid from nowhere; it was my first exposure to criticism.
I loved that these two guys argued with each other as if movies actually mattered. Nobody I knew talked about movies that way, but Siskel and Ebert took each movie as it came and talked about whether it was a success on its own terms. They talked about things they liked, not things they were supposed to like.
...
And that's one of the things I think my work is about, really, the difference between things you're supposed to like and things you actually do like.
What I think I appreciated most about the book was how much Vowell loved America. The architecture of the tiny memorial stalls most of us skip by without thinking, all of the docents and historians she encounters along the way, even the freeways and mall parking lots were transformed into sites of high (or at least medium) adventure. Most of all, Vowell loves a good road trip, the unique freedom of traveling in America.
Flying home Saturday afternoon, I was clutching only this book and my MacBook as I trudged through security. Big dude in front of me was upset about having to pour out his Coke (Coke was, of course, for sale not twenty yards further down the concourse.) I commiserated with him, and also made a sympathetic nod to the mother ahead of us who was pouring milk out of her baby's bottle, and his response was "This is why I can't wait to get back over there and kill more of them. I've already killed of six of them for y'all, and I want to get to ten."
I realized that the foiled spine declaring ASSASINATION in all-caps arial was on full view under big man's nose in the grey security tupperware also containing my shoes, quarters and cell phone. Of all the days to travel with a book called Assassination Vacation. I skirted away and made it home without further incident.
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