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"Then, I nod at Gandhi, whose bronze statue stands on the square's western edge. They shot him too." page 255
I did not necessarily enjoy this abrupt ending from Vowell. In my opinion it needed a grand ending. After all the great information provided from Vowell she couldn't give just a little more. She definitely should've added onto this topic or used another idea for a better conclusion. I do not understand how she can put so much work into a book and give it such a weak ending.

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"Teddy Roosevelt probably didn't have a wicking layer." page 226
Vowell does a great job creating a sense of imagery here. She juxtaposes her journey to the previous presidents journeys. I enjoyed this comparison as she looks back onto when they were in the locations she was in. Her work here is considerably different and is not similar to many other works I have come across. All I wonder is what were her thoughts writing this? What was the purpose of this addition?

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"Roosevelt must have wanted to write back to Robert Todd--tod, the German word for death--Lincoln,..." page 233
This piece of text shows a great example of Vowell's writing talents. She pushes her readers to interpret the provided information from a new outlook. She also creates a sense of irony in the writing. She connects the middle name of President Lincoln and the German word for death bringing a different perspective. Vowell's reoccurring statements about the presentation of Robert Todd Lincoln during every assassination brings a lot of attention to the topic at hand.

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"All of which took place right here where this marker is. I wonder how many times that dog walker has allowed his pet to pee on it. McKinley's death is part of this neighborhood's life." page 194
Vowell addresses the issue of people not pursuing a controversial topic despite their ability to comprehend what is going on. Many people tend to let things just slide by. Many people also know the difference between right and wrong. Being confrontational is nerve wracking for many which leads to Sarah Vowell's point of dressing the problem. In hopes of this piece of text, Vowell's goal is to get more of her readers to look at the bigger picture and have an appreciation for the little and the big things.

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"McKinley, who seemed to care less about what the bullets were doing to his insides than what the news of the bullets would do to his notoriously frail wife, told his secretary not to tell her." page 194
Although much of the story line is not intact for me, Sarah Vowell still shocks me after each few pieces of her story. She keeps proving her keen writing skills that provide so much detail and personality. Vowell's complex structure of her writing dives into realms we would not necessarily consider thinking about. Vowell's portrayal of McKinley provides a lot of necessary details. She displays his achievements and the ways he provided for our nation.

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"In the logo, most of the United States and Canada is blanketed in Miss North America's billowy yellow dress." page 196
Sarah Vowell excellently describes the relationship between the United States and the countries they seem to tyrannically reign. For me, it is rare to see opposing opinions on the government's pursuits. Vowell is sharing information I never knew I would want to interpret and analyze. I enjoy the way she develops an image in her readers' heads of the relationships America shares. Vowell excellently achieves to convey the two very controversial concepts.

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"It was called the Old Plantation, a celebration of the Old South complete with slave cabins and cotton fields, and featuring a black man billed as 'Old Laughing Ben from Dublin, Georgia.' Because slavery: fun!" page 202
Extremely uneasy with the unveil of slavery as something delightful, Vowell took a different approach than I expected out of her. Seeing this was very infuriating to her due to the immense amount of pain it caused hundreds of millions undeserving African Americans. To this day it is still such a controversial, sensitive topic that has imposed long term issues onto our country and its people. Depicting this issue as fun deserved harsh analyzing and criticizing over the unimportance of Sarah Vowell's words.

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"Owen and I sat in the hundred degree heat staring at ants frying on the asphalt." page 191
I found this quote interesting and very humorous. As a professional adult, I was surprised at Sarah Vowell's choice of entertainment. This is another necessary part of the story because it livens the mood after the recent information that I wasn't intrigued by. Sarah Vowell does a great job providing that extra oomph to the story. Why can't she include more things like this?

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"I very much enjoy picturing that, and when I do, I see it in slow motion, in black and white. A room full of men in neckties horse around laughing, bonking heads, feather floating in the air." page 211
Sarah Vowell intelligently places a great rhetorical device within this section of the story. Imagery, visually descriptive or figurative language, achieves Sarah Vowell's purpose. As I read further it became clear that Vowell was painting a picture in her audiences' head of assassinated presidents/celebrities were living their best lives before being murdered. She is very educational as she provides strong information on her story and grabs the attention of her readers with the cold, hard truth.

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"I happened to be conducting an internet search for 'imperialism and McKinley' when I stumbled onto an editorial in the Arcata Journal from the California coastal town of Arcata calling for the local McKinley statue to be torn down because it 'represents this nation's dawning season of global militarism, empire-building and corporate-funded, political victories of capitalist classes overworking classes, and of racists over reformers.' Not only was McKinley getting blamed for the Spanish American War." page 208-209
Over the years the United States government has not really stemmed far from its roots. Many of the same rules from hundreds of years ago are still followed to this day. Society has not developed as strongly as we've perceived and we are still facing similar issues as faced in our countries whirlwind of a past. Due to the similarity we are consistently going to be facing the same issues, including ones like the statue controversy. Sarah Vowell constructs a great visual that really made me consider all of the history and factors of the actions American citizens have pursued.

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"It stands at the bottom of Capitol Hill facing the Mall. The sculpture intends to present a late-nineteenth-century vision of dignified classicism." page 178
I am confused as to how previous President James Garfield can be considered insignificant. Although many people including myself don't know Garfield's achievements in/out of office, I've never heard of anything bad he's done either. There is a massive sculpture of him which means he must have some essential influence in the history of our country. To people like Sarah Vowell, Garfield plays a significant role in someone's life. To others, I'm not sure if it is relevant for him to be held at such a high value to have that sculpture.

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"I ask Joan about the Long Branch Historical Association's plans for the church. She says they're trying to raise $3 million. They're not only trying to turn it back into a museum. They want it to become a community center, hold concerts and events." page 185
Sarah Vowell's ability to provide such a large amount of evidence is very appealing as a reader. She shows a lot of heart in this book and attains to display the community making large efforts to adjust their current conditions. Time has not healed this community. Unity is key in this situation and has been proved after the lack of efforts by individuals not working together. The rally behind the church is a great example of the efforts being made to modify their lives.

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"Roosevelt also coined the term 'muckrakers' to describe the crusading journalists like Ida Tarbell, who had taken on the monolith of Standard Oil, and Upton Sinclair, whose book 'The Jungle' detailed the horrors of the meatpacking industry."
Roosevelt is one of the most famous presidents ever in office. It was very apparent that he cared about the country and the people in it, and him reaching out to Jacob Riis was an example of this. He fought for this country and Vowell easily makes her audience connect with the previous president. Although this is not a reflection, I wanted to add to this due to the fact that we just did a FRQ in APUSH on this subject. It was a cartoon of Roosevelt personally handling the hassle of the meat packing scandal. He put all of his efforts in to make sure this country was prospering and didn't crumble in his hands.

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"Yet he's clearly in awe of the people who lived here and what they tried to accomplish. He doesn't shy away from their faults...there's a lot to be learned from empathy." page 140
It is evident that Valesky is aware he should not criticize the people of this community. Vowell confirms Valesky's ability to show compassion towards them despite the peculiarity of this section of the book. I can't put my finger on what his ideas about these people are. I keep getting lost in the story Vowell is trying to tell. I'm not sure what point she is trying to get across.

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"Here's a distraction. When researching Luther Guiteau's take on his son's stay at Oneida, I couldn't help but notice that in his letters he refers to the Oneida community as "the O.C." Coincidentally, The O.C. is the name of a nighttime soap opera on television's Fox network I am currently obsessed with. Set in Orange County, California, the show's three biggest stars are Peter Gallagher and Peter Gallagher's legendary pair of eyebrows, eyebrows cozy enough to move into..." page 147
This quote from Sarah Vowell is effortlessly and surprisingly relatable. A simple and short break from a distraction is often needed to jump back into what you were originally focused on. Vowell often adds distractions in her writing which are much needed due to the average, dry information often being relayed to her readers. Distractions like this help me from falling asleep when her writing begins to slow down. It often seems to contain information that doesn't seem very necessary for the book (in my opinion).

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"Every man that shot union shoulders was a Democrat." page 131
Robert Ingersoll and Sarah Vowell are very interesting, peculiar people. I am in awe that Ingersoll is now hounding democratic ideals after fighting for the Union army and democratic preservation. Sarah Vowell, a pacifist, is someone infatuated with presidential assassinations.She is frequently contradicting herself. These two are very comparable and their purposes confuse me.

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"Any theologian who assured his fellow victorian that fondling one's neighbor's wife is as ordinary as frying an egg was bound to attract a following." page 138
Vowell's simile in this quote is actually quite intriguing due to the accuracy. I've never really heard anyone compare inappropriate men to frying eggs, but it definitely works. Falling all over another man's wife was and still is something that happens frequently and everywhere, just as frying eggs is happening frequently everywhere. I like that she added this to her story. It provides a sense of humor that is necessary to amp up her writing.

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"For example, here is one whopper of a bloody-shirt speech the ex-Union colonel Robert Ingersoll once delivered for the Hayes campaign: [Ingersoll's Speech]" page 129
Vowell's writing techniques consistently prove that she has the ability to make amazing pieces of text. In this book particularly, she uses many other sources for evidence or facts. Due to her passion on the topic she's writing about, I believe she excels in this book with her writing skills. She chooses credible sources that can back her up, which is very interesting reading from other people besides her. Her passion shines in this book.

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"As I am scrutinizing the plaque about Charlotte Scott, a black woman with white hair walks past, staring at me. Smiling, she yells 'Emancipation Proclamation!'...'Freed the slaves, amen!' " page 118
Vowell's passion, learning about presidential assassinations, is tied back to 1863 in this quote. The impact presidents like Abraham Lincoln made changed our lives forever. Even over 150 years later, his decision still makes an impact on lives everywhere. The way she coherently brings these separate events together is impressive in my opinion. She knows her history which makes me appeal to her writing because I know she is bringing the facts.

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"I can understand how these kids might not have heard of Lafayette, but is it possible they have never seen a single episode of Gunsmoke?" page 106
I find this quote very humorous because I find myself in similar situations at times. There are numerous things I will go on about and no one knows what in the world I'm talking about. "How do you not know anything about this?" is something I ask frequently. I immerse myself in learning about weird things, not relevant things, similar to Vowell. We can relate due to the fact that we are both passionate about things others aren't, and when they aren't it's very baffling.

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"What the staff generally tend to do is say that Mary's mental health is a complicated issue. Should Robert have done what he did or shouldn't he have?" page 114
It is unbelievable to me that Robert had the audacity to throw out Mary's personal problem to the public. There is no doubt that Mary has some issues, but that is something for her to deal with. There is no need for the public to know about her situation and make harsh assumptions. Her mental health is justified through her past. No matter what her situation is though, what Robert did was wrong and she has every right to be upset with him.

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"He's wearing a t-shirt from the Emma Goldman Papers Project, an archive of the anarchist's writings at UC Berkeley. The shirt says, 'Out of the chaos the future emerges in harmony and beauty'." page 89
Vowell symbolically uses her friends' t-shirts as a way to distinguish the types of people she is affiliated with. She elaborates on each detail on the t-shirts. The readers can differ one from another and make relations towards them. Symbolism influences her writing here because it gives the audience ideas of what the author's social groups are like. She coherently put this together with a great rhetorical device.

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"..hold onto your hat, hopefully you won't be blown away.' Well I am blown away. The view is majestic." page 79
Vowell uses an interesting technique and merges two ideas coherently. Her thought out story is deeply elaborated on which I appeal to a lot. As she goes from her fear of heights to the intense wind to the view, she deeply impresses me with her unique and strong writing techniques. Her shift on the idea of literally or figuratively being blown away flowed very nicely making this part of the story quite pleasing. This is something from her book that I thought was necessary and perfect.

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"The collection of the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia includes a number of attention grabbers." page 92
This museum Vowell went to somewhat makes me compare it to an art museum I went to in Los Angeles known as LACMA. It was an amazing art history museum with old, fragile artifacts. They originated from Europe, Asia, and other fascinating places that have history since B.C.. Every artifact we encountered was very real and very historic with detailed information. I can relate to Sarah Vowell's experience in this Philadelphia museum full of interesting pieces.

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"Mike says, 'I think it's a paradox that this prison-in-paradise theme's kind of interwoven through. The contrast makes it so compelling.'" page
Vowell, not very educated on the national park, appropriately quotes a source that is more informed than her. She realizes that what she is talking about is very boring. The tour guides information makes the park seem ten times better than it actually is. Quoting her tour guide accomplished what she needed to be achieved; make the history of the park interesting. She did the right thing in order to keep her audience engaged.

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"Perhaps this is the approach Dr. Mudd's grandson Richard should have taken. Instead of spending his very long life pestering state legislatures to pass resolutions recognizing his grandfather's innocence, if he really wanted to get the country behind his family name, he should have recorded a hit song or come up with a dance craze or something." page 102
I find this part of her story very dishonest. It is a complete turn off to wanting to read the rest of her book. She clearly knows that a distraction is an easy cover-up in our everyday lives due to all of the scandals, but encouraging her readers to follow along with the negatives of our society is highly displeasing. She is not wrong about the way our society behaves, but she should be preaching a more positive message on how to treat similar situations. I do not agree with Sarah Vowell on this and do not appreciate how someone so intelligent could stoop down to the level of the copy-cat society we live in.

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"Like, if I were in the presence of loved ones whose deaths I dread, then I would be more likely to remember the grief of the loved ones of the dead presidents." page 53
I like this quote from Sarah Vowell because she is bringing in something a little bit more personal that is easily relatable. She is using this tactic to comprehend a better understanding on the way the president's loved ones felt when they passed. I would easily compare to Sarah Vowell because I understand her point of view. It would be much easier to sympathize with others if you had gone through a similar traumatic experience. She is easily comparing the two situations for a better understanding to further go on in her story.

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"..as these folks ate their freshly baked muffins and admired the bed-and-breakfast's teapot collection, that they probably didn't want to talk about presidential gunshot wounds." page 3
It is very interesting to me that Vowell can go up to strangers and start talking to them about the fascinations of presidents being murdered in a play. Even more so, they are trying to enjoy their breakfast! Obviously she understands that her topic versus the other's topic do not correspond, but why make them uncomfortable? She contrasts the awkwardness with her place in the situation. She does however use a perfect use of imagery when describing the bed-and-breakfast, saying that it is flowery and cozy.

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"I will, for the record (and for the FBI agent assigned to read this and make sure I mean no harm-hello there), clearly state that while I am obsessed with death, I am against it." page 6
The author Sarah Vowell intricately put together this part of the story. It is a perfect turning point to take away from the fact that she is obsessed with these assassins and turn it into a joke. As she goes on about her opinions, the reader begins to learn more about her and her interests. As a reader, I have began to question my opinion on her already and what her values are. Im not sure if I should be questioning her sanity or not. It seemed care free when she said "hello" the supposed FBI agent watching her.

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"There was a picture of Powell, very tall, very handsome man. Who's that? I wondered." page 41
So far in the book, Vowell makes numerous statements about the presidential assassins. These lead me to the conclusion that she is infatuated with them. She seems almost too interested in the murderers, making charming remarks about them that are a tad bit creepy. Is she too obsessed with these men? It is likely that as the book goes on she is going to make several other positive statements about these peculiar men.

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"Think about that. I know I have. For the first few days after I read that, every time I took a five dollar bill out of my wallet I looked at the engraving of Lincoln's head and couldn't get the image of his detached brain out of my head." page 51
Vowell lays out a perfect visual for her readers about how she felt after hearing the story. She provides the right amount of detail giving her story all the right pieces to make it intriguing. She uses great use of imagery describing Lincoln's detached head. It's as if she were there! The emotion gone into writing about President Lincoln's autopsy further proves the obsession Vowell has with presidential assassinations.

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"The plot to murder Abraham Lincoln started out as a plot to kidnap him, or rather it was one of such several kidnapping schemes." page 68
Those who collaborated against Lincoln switched schemes numerous times. They often could not agree on a plan or they had to change it. George Atzerodt (who was supposed to kill Vice President Johnson) ending up not following through with the mischievous plan. I believe this quote was used symbolically showing that people under a lot of stress are not thinking clearly, leading them to make irrational decisions. Vowell uses this in hope to make her readers more sympathetic towards the murders who are more often than not disregarded.

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"And if the random senator still seems on the fringe... it's worth noting that three years after that, the Missouri senator, John Ashcroft, became Attorney General of the United States..." page 58
What is the purpose of Vowell starting off her spout with the Oklahoma bomber? She is consistently jumping to different points. She is not relating to her other topics nor is she staying on track. This could be the underlying truth that no matter the amount of improvements, we are never going to change. This quote is very hard to understand should be translated into a comprehendable way.

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"Of course talking about the murders of previous presidents is going to open the door to discussing the current president." page 5
This is significant to the present because it teaches us historical events so we don't repeat them in the future. This will end up protecting our country. This quote is very relevant because we have a president who has been threatened with murder before. I like that Vowell is understanding of the situation and knows that uncomfortable conversation will inevitably get brought up. She is bold and loves getting to talk about this topic.

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"Like Lincoln, I would like to believe the ballot is stronger than the bullet. Then again, he said that before he got shot." page 7
Personification- Vowell is giving human-like traits to a ballot and a bullet. The quote means the ballot decides the faith of the people who are voting while the bullet decides the fate of whoever it hits. She also uses the idiomatic expression, "Then again, he said that before he got shot." These writing techniques help her achieve her purpose of taking her readers on a trip to the pitstops of political murder and through the countless ways they've been used for fun and profit.

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"That's what I like to call him, "the current president." I find it difficult to say or type his name, George W. Bush. I like to call him "the current president" because it's a hopeful phrase, implying that his administration is only temporary." Page 5
I am highly confused about Vowell's opinion on Bush. Does she hate him or not? How is it DIFFICULT to say or type the name of a favorable president? It really does not take much effort. I think Vowell is a little arrogant in the sense that she is exaggerating her self importance and being slightly annoying with what she has chosen to say.