Ass Ass

I got a copy of Sarah Vowell's most recent book, Assassination Vacation for Christmas this year. The first thing I noticed about the book was that its title starts with Ass. Then I noticed that the title actually starts with AssAss, which is even funnier. Luckily for you, there is also much more to admire about this extremely readable and adorabley geeky book from everyone's favorite radio personality.

This book follows Vowell through the histories, memorials, museums, statues, and physical remains related to the assassinations of presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley. Like everyone, I had a pretty good idea of the circumstances surrounding the assassination of Lincoln, but Garfield and McKinley were pretty much a mystery to me. Still, the tangled web of personalities, plots, and historical circumstance around the handsome and murderous actor, John Wilkes Booth (pictured above) and the eventual death of Lincoln (complete with theatrical "Sic semper tyrannis!") provided several new tidbits of historical information for me. For example, did you know that Robert Todd Lincoln, Lincoln's oldest son, who was at his father's deathbed, also happened to be in the room when Garfield and McKinley were shot? And that Edwin Booth, John Wilkes' brother (and the most popular Shakespearean actor in New York, even after his brother embarrassed the family with the whole assassination thing) actually saved Robert Todd Lincoln's life before Lincoln was shot?

There is even more dirt to dig up on the assassin of President Garfield, the rather crazy Charles Guiteau (the wild-eyed guy to the right, whose archival collection resides at Georgetown and sounds very cool). Like nearly all presidential assassination attempts, this one is mired down in the politics of the day -- namely a fight amongst Republicans over who should get the presidential nomination -- Grant or Garfield. It obviously eventually went to Garfield, which made the old guard Republicans mad. Guiteau was a rather isolated and strange man who had twice lived for extended periods as part of the free-love Oneida cult in upstate New York (although by all accounts he weirded them all out so much that he didn't get to experience much of that free love himself). After being repeatedly turned down in his attempts to secure the position of French Ambassador (for which he was basically the most unqualified candidate in the country), he shot Garfield at a train station (Garfield lived for several months afterwards, but eventually died of blood poisoning, most likely the result of poor doctoring and not Guiteau's bullet) and then went on to represent himself at his trial and basically proved that he was ridiculously insane. Of course, he was put to death anyway.

Finally, this cute, lonely, and humorless anarchist Leon Czolgosz pulled the trigger on President McKinley. He was influenced by the fiery rhetoric of Emma Goldman, and likely was trying to impress her and the other anarchists with his actions. While his actions may have done just that, they also ultimately resulted in Goldman and others being exiled to Russia, and a ban on people holding anarchist beliefs from entering the country. It also catapulted the larger-than-life Teddy Roosevelt into office, as he was McKinley's VP at the time of his death.

Although all the historical minutiae is fascinating, as an archivist, my favorite part of the book is Vowell's appreciation for the people who work with the physical evidence of this history on a day-to-day basis: The volunteer docents that show people through the birthplaces of presidents and assassins, the forgotten statues memorializing forgotten politicians, and then bone fragments and bullet casings that have been carefully preserved for years. As Vowell writes:

"Even though I am currently the only pilgrim paying my respects to the relics in this out-of-the-way museum, it suddenly feels pretty crowded in here, what with all the people who made this exhibit possible -- from John Wilkes Booth on down to the intern who probably typed the labels -- breathing down my neck. I can't make up my mind which step in the process is weirder, the murder or this display, unless the weirdest step of all is taking a fourteen-dollar cab ride to look at the display about the murder."

So, five thumbs up for this one, and I'm happy to loan it to anyone who wants to give it a read.

(Have you all noticed this new concordance feature on Amazon? Its basically awesome. Also it gives you crazy stats like how many words per dollar and per ounce in each book. I love stuff like that.)