Summary:
It's a non-fictional book for once. Vowell delves into the crazy minds and lives of the men who went after Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley, examining the roads they took toward the assassinations, and the roads they followed afterward. It also looks at Robert Todd Lincoln, Abraham's eldest, who was in the vicinity during each of the assassination attempts.
Thoughts:
The chapter on Lincoln takes up almost half the book, and goes far more in depth than the other two. Vowell makes history fun in the most off-beat kind of way. She literally goes on vacations and day trips to find out more about what John Wilkes Booth was doing the day after the shooting. I swear. She takes the truths of the days surrounding each assassination and lays them all out so you can learn them best, and absorb just how nuts each of the assassins actually were. Vowell's way of looking at the history of these murders makes it fun and interesting to learn about, as opposed to reading a text book or listening to your high school history teacher drone on about dates and events. (No offense to Mr. Heath, and Mr. Lynch, who are probably long gone from my school at this point, but who did actually help me enjoy history a lot more than most teachers!) Vowell takes the emotionless facts of when and where, and throws in the emotional bits of who and why so that her readers can get a sense of how it really went down. And poor Robert. That man must have had a serious complex by the end of his life.
The book is a great read. I honestly didn't want to put it down, and fully plan on picking up more of Vowell's books. Her joy over the history leaps off the page as if it had a life of its own. HIGHLY suggest this one, people. HIGHLY.
Book 31 of 50
Pages: 255
Genre: History
Grade: A
Would I Recommend?: YES. A thousand times, YES!! Even if you're not big on history, this is worth it. YES!!
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