Sarah Vowell's "Trail of Tears"

Sarah Vowell's essay "What I See When I Look at the Face on the $20 Bill," which we read a few weeks ago as an example of an "information plus" essay, originated as a radio essay for This American Life, "Trail of Tears," which aired on July 3, 1998. The interviews with people she meets along the trip were in fact recorded for this radio essay, and you can hear the voices of her sister Amy, the tour guides, and others, which later appeared in quotation in the published essay. The story of the Vowell sisters and their road trip to retrace the Trail of Tears took up the whole episode, and you can listen to the complete audio version of her essay here.