The Wordy Shipmates | 
 enlarge | Author: Sarah Vowell
Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
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Rating:  84 reviews
Sales Rank: 1873
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.1
ISBN: 1594489998
Dewey Decimal Number: 974.0882859
EAN: 9781594489990
ASIN: 1594489998
Publication Date: October 7, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The Wordy Shipmates is New York Timesbestselling author Sarah Vowells exploration of the Puritans and their journey to America to become the people of John Winthrops city upon a hilla shining example, a city that cannot be hid.
To this day, America views itself as a Puritan nation, but Vowell investigates what that means and what it should mean. What was this great political enterprise all about? Who were these people who are considered the philosophical, spiritual, and moral ancestors of our nation? What Vowell discovers is something far different from what their uptight shoe-buckles-and- corn reputation might suggest. The people she finds are highly literate, deeply principled, and surprisingly feisty. Their story is filled with pamphlet feuds, witty courtroom dramas, and bloody vengeance. Along the way she asks:
*Was Massachusetts Bay Colony governor John Winthrop a communitarian, a Christlike Christian, or conformitys tyrannical enforcer? Answer: Yes!
*Was Rhode Islands architect, Roger Williams, Americas founding freak or the father of the First Amendment? Same difference.
*What does it take to get that jezebel Anne Hutchinson to shut up? A hatchet.
*What was the Puritans pet name for the Pope? The Great Whore of Babylon.
Sarah Vowells special brand of armchair history makes the bizarre and esoteric fascinatingly relevant and fun. She takes us from the modern-day reenactment of an Indian massacre to the Mohegan Sun casino, from old-timey Puritan poetry, where righteousness is rhymed with wilderness, to a Mayflower-themed waterslide. Throughout, The Wordy Shipmates is rich in historical fact, humorous insight, and social commentary by one of Americas most celebrated voices. Thou shalt enjoy it.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 79 more reviews...
 A good book from a great writer. January 7, 2009
I think this one's a little more history buffs. It focuses less on facts and dates and setting the stage for what happened in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and a lot more on the personalities involved. If you know all the facts, this new take is quite refreshing.
Not as engaging as previous works... January 6, 2009
I think that Sarah Vowell's writing is creative, witting and fascinating. Up until now, I have enjoyed everything written by Sarah Vowell and always look forward to her new books. But I wasn't quite as enthralled with The Wordy Shipmates. Maybe it's me, but I just couldn't get myself as stirred up about the Puritans as Vowell.
Vowell claims that "Americans have learned our history from exaggerated popular art for as long as anyone can remember." She attempts to set the record straight "about those Puritans who fall between the cracks of 1620 Plymouth and 1692 Salem, the ones who settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony and then Rhode Island." She places a special emphasis on the "words written or spoken" by Puritan leaders including John Winthrop, John Cotton, Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. John Winthrop's sermon, "A Model of Christian Charity" plays a major role and appears again and again. According to Vowell, this sermon is "one of the formative documents outlining the idea of America" because of the "'city upon a hill' sound bite."
Vowell is clearly smitten with the Pilgrims, their words, their ideas and their history. Unfortunately, I did not find them that engaging. She usually makes comic parallels between the history she is discussing and the present day. She still does this in spots--sometimes it's more irony than belly laughs. While visiting the Mohegan Sun Casino operated by the Mohegan tribe, Vowell muses that 17th Century sachem "Uncas would undoubtedly get a kick out of his tribe presiding over such an impressive edifice built for the sole purpose of taking white people's wampum." Or that "an America fervently devoted to the quaint goals of working together and getting along" does actually exist. "It's called Canada."
One other thing I disliked was that Vowell does not divide The Wordy Shipmates into chapters. By the end, I was glad that I stuck with this book and I still think that Vowell is an amazing talent. But I was expecting a little more.
Surprisingly good! January 5, 2009
So I picked this up because I love Sarah Vowell, but I completely forgot to see what the book was about. That's sad. I popped in the first CD and felt myself dumped back in my junior year of high school, where my U.S. History class took up the chant of the previous AP U.S. History class... damn the Puritans! We hated learning about Puritans and we made sure that our teacher hated teaching us about the Puritans (poor Mr. Zeiner!). I had fairly low expectations for this book once I realized I would be listening to six CDs of history on the Massachusetts Bay colony. But Sarah Vowell has yet to disappoint. She is passionate about these Puritans, about the citizens and speeches, the diaries, the way of life, all of it. And it rubs off on the reader. I actually found myself wanting to discuss with friends about the way that we misuse the word "puritan." Seriously. Or ithe state in the U.S. that has had the least amount of war in it.
I will say that I really enjoy the way that Vowell goes off on tangents in her other books, and it just doesn't happen as much in this one. She spends a lot of time focused on the Massachusetts Bay colony and less bringing us to the present, making connections that make these people a bit more tangible. I would've liked to see more moments like her family vacation to Puritan tourist traps. Overall, though, this is a great book. If you like her voice (like I do), I'd recommend the audio version. You learn so much and it makes you feel a little more sorry for your history teachers.
A Great Multi-tasking Read! January 5, 2009
I really enjoyed this witty historical perspective. Although unfamiliar with her, I saw an interview promoting this book and put it on my list. I couldn't put it down. I love her cleverness, which made for a humorous read. However, what makes this book great is how it educates the reader on various historical events which are strung together and compared to elicit pause and provoke thought. You learn a bit of history, laugh a lot, and are challenged in your own beliefs. In other words you get a lot of bang for your buck.
 Tedious January 4, 2009
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
If you are interested in reading or listening to yet another work dealing with the plight of the sweet, gentle, kind, generous Native Americans of yore at the hands of heartless, cruel, blood thirsty Europeans and later Americans you've found your book! Sarah is usually irreverently funny. In this work she is more sarcastically flip with very little humor. I enjoy the author's presentations on This American Life but found, listening to this book on my Ipod, that her usually funny deadpan voice can become very tedious after not too long. That, along with her light but bitter writing, was too much. I did not finish the book.
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