Regrettably, there is no George W. Bush chapter in this book

Is that title offensive? Yes. And I guess I'll be on some government watch list if the FBI stumbles across my blog. Luckily, I'm pretty low profile, so I think I'm safe.

Anyway, I recently finished reading Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation. I went in expecting to enjoy it for two main reasons: First, I am sort of oddly interested in this subset of American history. I loved Sondheim's Assassins, and it made me realize how little I know about some of our presidents and their (sometimes would-be) killers. I've read American Brutus, an interesting bio of John Wilkes Booth, and have both Manhunt and Team of Rivals on my to-be-read lists (though now I can't buy them until 2009, thanks to my self-imposed bookstore exile). But beyond this Lincoln-focused reading, the rest of America's assassination history was pretty vague to me. With her three-part structure, Vowell rehashed some of what I knew about Lincoln and J.W.B., then went on to give a crash course on President Garfield and Charles Gateau and President McKinley and Leon Czolgosz. She offers both standard history as well as unique random historical tidbits, sprinkling her own experiences all the way through.

The second reason I wanted to read this was that I thought Vowell's writing would be pretty damn funny. This was actually where my expectations were not met. There are a few chuckle-worthy passages, but this was no history-focused Sedaris-like reading. Then again, every time I expect anything to be akin to Sedaris I'm disappointed, so I should just stop comparing other writers to him.

That said, Assassination Vacation is still definitely worth reading. I learned a lot and was entertained throughout which is no small feat. Just don't go in expecting to be laughing out loud, making those around you wonder what is so funny about shooting a president.