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Assassination vacation
A delightfully morbid and deeply nerdy road trip through the weirdest, darkest corners of American history.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like taking a cross-country road trip with your smartest, most morbidly obsessed friend. The pace is delightfully meandering, perfectly matching the rhythm of a traveler pulling over to inspect obscure historical plaques and forgotten museums. Its tone is distinctly wry and deadpan, balancing the grim reality of political assassinations with a quirky, irreverent appreciation for the weirdness of American tourism. You are immersed in a mood that is simultaneously macabre and nostalgic, surrounded by the ghosts of presidents and the eccentricities of the people who memorialize them. Beneath the dry wit and endless trivia, there is a surprisingly poignant exploration of national memory and collective grief. It is an absolute treat for history nerds and fans of conversational, essayistic nonfiction who find comfort in the darker, stranger footnotes of the past.
- Mood
- quirky
- macabre
- reflective
- nostalgic
- Tone
- wry
- deadpan
- nerdy
- irreverent
- conversational
- Pace
- meandering
- Themes
- tragedy as tourism · national memory · historical obsession · weird Americana
- The writing
- Conversational and highly digressive, the sentences are packed with dry wit, historical trivia, and self-deprecating observations.
- The arc
- Begins as a quirky, morbidly curious road trip and deepens into a surprisingly poignant meditation on American violence and collective grief.
- Who it's for
- History enthusiasts with a dark sense of humor who appreciate NPR-style storytelling and deep dives into obscure Americana.
Content notes
- gun violence
- death and dying
- political assassination
About the book
A tour of key historic sites in America where incidents of political violence have occurred reveals lesser-known points of interest pertaining to each and shares information about how history has been shaped by popular culture and tourism.
Description from Open Library.
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