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Jun 13, 2017undereli rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
The author, Sarah Vowell, would herself make for an interesting study. Describing herself as “more of a Ten Commandments, rule-of-law girl” compared to the anarchist-inspired Emma Goldman, one may wonder otherwise, considering the subjects of this book: Assassinated U.S. Presidents. I didn’t know what to expect when I picked this up. I’d so enjoyed another of her titles that I wanted to read more of Vowell’s material. Here, she recounts the killings of Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, and William McKinley. Her recounting the days, hours and moments both before and after their deaths are written as if she is in conversation with the reader, providing her first-person accounts of visiting the sites of each killing, plus other landmarks and memorial to each victim, plus the killers themselves. This is not a dry read. Its colour comes through her own present-day thoughts about these historical moments while travelling – usually in the company of a friend, as Vowell doesn’t drive – around the U.S. to these monuments and landmarks of history. I recommend this to readers who wish to avoid the hoity-toitiness of textbook-like reading or material steeped in partisan politics.