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"That's what writing is. Your keeping people alive in your head."
This quote sums up the author's purpose, the whole reason why she takes this road trip is to keep the names of those assassinated presidents' alive.

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"..Garfield is the deadest of dead men, so faceless that even a third grader who just got a gold star.."
This is just good writing, what better way to describe a nobody than this. These are really good details that really just help readers reallly understand that this guy is a nobody.

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I am the black hole at breakfast, silent void of gloom sucking the sunshine out of their neighborly New England." 2
She uses metaphors to describe this akaward breakfast table. She is out of the strangers at the breakfast the most akward and she makes it even worse by talking.

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"For his trouble he would be  mourned only to end here..." 115
I don't for someone reason I just felt really drawn to this quote. I think it's because I grew up in area where bullets just flew and you never know who the next target was, especially after Zae's death, I feel that this quote really just connects with his untimely death.

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"..Robert not being buried here because his wife couldn't stand his mom."pg 113
I don't really understand why she adding this to the book. I just feel like it is uncessary but then again I assume its because she wants the readers to really get an understanding of Lincoln.

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"...i bet it's Mckinley's portly girth more than his good citizenship that inspires them, if only to endure  more laps."pg 192
I thought this was funny, I just like her sense of humor.I think it's great that she can find humor in all aspects of life.

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"he wanted to do today and he said go look at stones..he means tombstones." pg 189
I cant't believe he nepwe into a minie her. Kids don't want to go look at tombstones they want to go disney land and whatever other things kids do. But I can't really believe she really encouraging this. The kid playing with skeletons in a grave yard.

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"...I sympathized with his bum luck of death."
I think she does a really good job of using language that connects with the younger generation and she also manages to use language that reflects the older generation.

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The most famous thing ever said about president James Garfield is about how nobody has any idea who the hell he was." pg 123
I thought this was one of the funniest things she said in this book. I kept on rereading it over and over and I laughed everytime. This was a prefect hook for this chapter, it grabbed my attention and it made want to read on and to eventually figure out who the hell this guy was.

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"Oh my lord. You know my ancestors were on the Trial of tear." 183
Why is it such a shock to her that someone actually liked Jackson for a leader? I feel like there was some sarcsams when she said that, like she was trying to make a point about all the wrong with things with Jackson. It would be like me if someone says that Washington is their favorite president and I responded with you know my ancestors were slaves. We are just shedding like to the negative aspects that history leaves out.

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Presidential history in Jersey is so sketchy" 183
Why would the history in Jersey be considerd sketchy? What makes it different from all the other places she's been?

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"they were unfit for the self-government..educate the Filipinos, and uplift and Christianize .."
Once again and even today here's that American spirit of were better than everyone and were God's chosen. I hate this American idea of were better than the rest of world, I guess this is why many nations hate us. I think it's more like American should really mind it's own business, they in my opinion as well many of the developed nations ruin everything.

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"...Then I nod at Gandhi, whose bronze statue stands on the square's western edge. They shot him to." pg 254
I really hate that she ended the book this. It is sort of like of hey I am going to get the last laugh...Ha ha ha .Which is why it works, because it left me wondering who does this. It also accomplish her purpose of keeping the dead alive.

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"I do enjoy a good move-tie.Plus, an event in the nation's capital rejoicing in the holy trinity of Jesus.." pg 248
Honestly this just good writing. Its funny and it connects back to what she had said at the beginning of the book.I like how she started the topic and how right around the end she sort of said the same thing.

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"The American people are slow to wrath, but when their wrath is once kindled it burns like a consuming flame." pg 220
American does get fired about things that matter to them. The whole gun violence issue has the younger generation fired up. I am some what shocked that they haven't lit up after Trump election. But its understandable, America only fights for the its own interest.

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"i killed the president because he was the enemy of the good people working people."pg 215
This really stuck out to me, because Czolgosz when he said didn't work therefore his hipocret. Its just today's politics, someone person runs for presidents, tells the common people that he understands their struggle when he really doesn't. It's like some of the rappers today, they all to tell the story of growing up in the hood but none of the want to live it.

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"if the progression of his blood poisoning was fourth quarter of the NBA finals, as if the movie.." pg 124
I think she utilized similes and metaphors really well in her writing this. She tried to create this image and feeling of the president's death with things that many of use could relate to.

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"Scoville  mounted a convincing insanity defense." pg 175
I have actually read this court case, and honestly the sad part about is that even today when someone shoots up a school or a club that person is deemed insane and the needs medical attention. But for some of us it just isn't like.

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"Chester Arthur wasn't so bad, unless you were Chinese (he limited immigration). pg 171
History really does repeat itself, Donald Trump isn't so bad, unless your middle eastern( he tried to enforce a ban on immigration).

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"but sitting where Guiteau stalked Garfield, staring at the White house gives me the creeps." pg 172
What is the deal with her, so walking through a cemetery and having this obsession with dead president is not creepy but the area where a man was stalked is? She 's just weird, the creepiest thing in this book so far was the museum of human parts.

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This is not murder. It is a political necessity. pg 170
Once again Sarah Vowell tries to shed a light on the killer. On page 173, she goes into detail about why Guiteau did what he did. He states that he was a man of destiny and goes as far as to compare himself to jesus and Napoleon. This allows the reader to define what they deem is right to the moral standard of society.

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She takes her friend to see plaque for his birthday
I could really relate to this because I have also done somethings like this. Every time one of my friends brings up politicals or some type injustice in the world, I start going on about the history of the topic. I essentially give a lecture, my sister calls it a preach sermon and she always tells people to walk away before I can ever finish. I guessed sometimes I carried away about things that interest me and forget that other people don't care.

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"whether ever, I may return.. is pretty poignant considering he would return, but in a long black casket decked with sliver stars and fringe." pg
I thought that this very funny, her sarscum is funny to a point that makes me wonder if she is taking this whole thing serious.

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"is slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong." pg 118
I think she’s saying that if the concept of slavery is not wrong then the very existences of all that is wrong is unjust.

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"he cared more about saving the Union than he did about freeing the slaves. We are at best his stepchildren." pg 117
This quote really jumped out to me. I strongly feel like that we were like the step children. I hate that we are taught that the war was fought to end slavery. The war was to keep the union together, ending slavery was just a bonus.

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"that;s when the house first became kind of an icon." pg 110

The house of Lincoln became a place where anyone who wanted to connect with Lincoln could come. She went to that house to feel connected with Lincoln. In the preface she talked about how Lincoln was like a god to her or an important figure to her. The house is a reflection of Lincoln character. The house tells the story of who he was, so it makes sense that would be the place to really connect with him.

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"going to Ford's theater to watch the play is like going to Hooters for the food." pg 41
She compares it to hooters to show the reader that Ford's theater actually has good plays that not all the plays there evolve around the
historical figures or events.

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a very tall, very handsome man...smoldered, decked out in a jaunty, crumpled, double breasted trench coat, staring at the camera dead on." pg 41
Sarah Vowell gives a brief description on Powell's appearance because Lincoln wasn't the only one in danger the day he was assassinated. History often neglects to mention that there was an assassination attempts on Powell. So all in all Vowell tries to create this image on Powell to readers.

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“ the Brady campaign to prevent gun violence is downright heroic.” Pg 84
I feel like many of us could relate to the whole gun violence issues especially after the many school shootings that have happened throughout the years. I think it’s a crazy we still don’t have restrictive gun laws today. Getting a drivers license is much easier than getting a gun. I stand with the rest of the teens out there who are fighting for gun control. I’m not saying we’re taking away anyone’s rights to own guns, I’m just saying we need stricter gun laws. How many students are going to have to be gunned down in order for congress to do something about? I just want to make sure I can go to school and not worry about someone shooting it up.

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After being hunted like a dog through swamps...”
John Booth writes to describe the eagerness of his capture. He was the guy that just assassinated the president so the man hunt was real. This guy had to pay his due. I also think there is some irony to this, John Booth had  strong hate for blacks who were hunted through swamps by dogs and now he is in the same situation as runaway slaves

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“..comparing himself to Brutus, Caesar’s assassin immortalized by Shakespeare in the play Booth had performed with his brothers.” Pg 81

I really like how she connected the assassination of Lincoln to the assassination for Caesar. It was a really good connection, both men in both  scenarios thought they were getting rid of the tyrant.

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"..pointing out that both the north and south  were praying to the same the god, as if they were just a couple of football teams squaring off in the super bowl." pg 26
The author in the sense tries to humanize Lincoln. She includes Lincoln sense humor, usually in history class were taught all the basic facts about presidents, I don’t ever really think of the president as someone with emotions or a sense of humor. In doing so readers are more connected and sympathetic towards Lincoln.

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“Sic  simper tryannis”
The Latin phrase means thus always to tyrants. John Booth shouts this after shooting Lincoln. Sarah Vowell depicts John Booth as someone who’s been hurt by the laws proposed by Lincoln. A tyrant  is any person in a position of authority who exercises power oppressively or despotically. He feels that he must bring death to tyrants. In doing so she sort of sheds a light as well as examines the actions of the bad guy rather than stating that John Booth shot the president therefore he is a bad guy.

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“I considered putting an exclamation point at the end of previous sentence to more accurately portray the gusto with which it was delivered.” Pg 78
I like that the author allows readers to see what she’s thinking while writing this. It’s like she’s having a full on conversation with the readers, but at the same time I feel like this is an example of bad writing. Does the writer really need to tell the audience that she considered adding an exclamation point, she should’ve of just done it instead of telling the audience.

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“It’s bad enough to a prisoner in the hands of white men your equals under the constitution, but to be lorded by a set of ignorant, prejudiced and irresponsible beings of unbleached humanity, was more than I could submit to.” Pg 76
This quote really  stuck out to me and I think it’s because I feel like I’m in the somewhat similar situation. For me it’s the whole thing with being African, apparently African and Americans not really African  and so they feel the need to  discriminate against those who are African. It really don’t make sense at all, we literally look the same, on a piece of paper you check the African and American box just like me. Some people just really need to learn their history because I’m not the enemy. I’m fighting for the same thing that those before me have been fighting for, a right to  be equal.

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“The mention of black vomit cheers me up” pg74
How can anyone possibly be happy at the thought of black vomit and along with that, the author adds detail about “pale green yogurt [she] threw up.” In my opinion her sharing that experience adds no purpose to the story. So essentially she’s just adding unnecessary comments that really play no role, it’s just personal information from her life that’s just really weird.

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I like that the author comments and adds her own opinions to the story. Although I first I thought her comments were unnecessary and kind of annoying , her comments turned out to be very helpful. I can better understand what the author is trying to say and what was going through her head as she wrote it.