The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Wordy Shipmates
Book Review: "The Brady Bunch" as History.
Summary: 4 Stars
Sarah Vowell has done it again. Her easy style and simple analogies keep the reader interested and the pace moving - in spite of what might be considered a droll subject. The references to TV shows such as "Bewitched", "Happy Days", and "The Brady Bunch" make it clear that Vowell is a product of the modern media generation.
"'Bobby, the Indians were friendly at first,' says Mrs. Brady. 'They didn't start fighting until their land was taken away.'
Bobby: 'You mean the Pilgrims took away all the Indians' land?'
'That's right,' answers Mr. Brady, who immediately looks regretful at this pointblank lapse of patriotic-forefather boosterism and adds, 'Uh, well, at first they didn't take much of it.'"
Later she writes, "There isn't much difference between tall tales that start, 'Listen my children and you shall hear' and 'Here's the story of a man named Brady.' In other words, Americans have learned our history from exaggerated popular art for as long as anyone can remember...."
Sarah Vowell is an American treasure.
Book Review: A Fascinating Book about a Subject I Never Found Interesting Before
Summary: 4 Stars
This book is about Puritans in New England from approximately 1630 to 1651, with historical trips to the future and the past to bolster points and provide insight.
The book is wonderfully detailed and full of diary entries and other quotes about and by John Winthrop, Roger Williams, and John Cotton, all Puritan heavyweights. There's also a brief bit about Anne Hutchinson and other players in the Indian-New England-England crucible that became the United States of America.
Vowell makes her points cleanly and clearly, although I personally would have appreciated a less flippant style. I guess, that however, is her trademark, and I must say that she has piqued my interest, especially in Roger Williams, with this book. The time period she writes of here doesn't usually interest me, but I'm interested now.
This book is described as "part memoir, part meditation, and part road-trip" by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a quote on the back cover. The memoir part doesn't particularly interest me because she interjects personal details and some one-liners that fell flat with me. I kept getting the vision of a stand-up comic waiting for the audience to laugh after a punch line. I didn't laugh. I found that it distracted me from her points about Puritans and New England of the 1630s and 1640s. I know I'm the exception to the rule and these personal facts and "jokes" will endear her to most audiences.
However, some of what seemed to be digressions, about Kennedy and Lincoln, Reagan and Gore, while initially startling, made sense as I continued to read. And her details of the Pequot War, her visit to Rhode Island, and excerpts from the Royal Charter of Rhode Island, the sermon "A Model of Christian Charity" by John Winthrop, and "A Key into the Language of America" by Roger Williams are used effectively to make her points and to edify and educate.
I had never heard of Sarah Vowell before reading The Wordy Shipmates. A very good book. An author whose other books I will search out.
Book Review: A Great History That Was A Joy To Read
Summary: 5 Stars
The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell was a joy to read. I love getting my hands on a good history, but many are so fact filled, that they just put the reader to sleep. Sarah Vowell's work, The Wordy Shipmates, is a great historical essay filled with humor and a great read. It is one of the better histories I have read of our "Puritan Forefahters." Vowell moves beyond the the uninformed standard view of Puritans, Puritanism, being Puritanical, etc. In this book she took great pains to to show what a complex religious and social movement was the Puritan movement. All the major New England 17th century players are featured in this work, Winthrop, Cotton, Williams, Hutchinson and so on. The great bonus here is the writer's sense of humor. She is not high minded. Ms. Vowell understands that despite our best intentions we fail, but she admires that the Puritans keep trying, even when they get it wrong. The book is also a bit autobiograhical of Ms. Vowell's life and she ties that in well. The writer doesn't fall into the 21st century trap of wagging her finger at those ignorant folks of times past. Good for her. If this book has a negative, for me, so what, Elvis Costello didn't like Margaret Thatcher. Because of this book I have ordered other works by Sarah Vowell. Please keep writing Sarah.Book Review: A Great Multi-tasking Read!
Summary: 4 Stars
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.Book Review: A Little More Self-Aware Than I Like
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
It could just be me, but I just feel like Sarah is a little too self-aware of her role in the media, and that she's trying too hard to be the person she thinks we're expecting her to be.
The book is well-written and researched, as I have come to expect from her works. I just got tired of the tone after a while. I still give it 4 stars, because it really is a very good book. Just not a great one.