The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Wordy Shipmates
Book Review: A Sharp, Witty Look at The Founding Fathers
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Having grown up in New England with ancestry both from the Mayflower and native American, I was really interested in Sarah Vowell's c
coverage of the puritans who settled the Boston area. Who were these people?
One of the interesting things she pointed out is that most of us get our entire concept of the pilgrims from the sitcoms we watched as children. In retrospect - I agree. We also place a tremendous amount of importance upon Plymouth Colony (because of Thanksgiving) when the Boston colony was actually much more influential upon history.
Lucky for us, the shipmates "wordiness" refers to the facts that they were a highly literate bunch who wrote all the time. A little investigation tells us a lot about them. From their written diary entries, letters, and sermons, we can get a good sense of how they thought. It's also important to place them into the context of what was happening in England at the time.
Vowell does a great job of displaying just how the beliefs of these Puritans shaped the US,up to and including the politics of today. It is important to note that these people were Calvinists, anti-democracy, intolerant to any beliefs but their own. While this sounds un-American on the surface, just blow the fine dust off current events to see these values still in action.
She posits that some countries are despotic and don't pretend they are not, while America frequently acts in despotic ways - but pretends that it holds the moral standard for the rest of the world. In a similar way the Pilgrims believed that the saved were already chosen, but they should go around and act like they were saved anyway - just in case.
This is a very interesting and witty read. Vowell's writing is clear, sharp, and extremely well researched.
Book Review: A brilliant and truly unique voice
Summary: 5 Stars
Sarah Vowel provides a fresh and unique voice in capturing the "roots" of american ideology, as well as multiple connections to the contemporary. Insighful, creative, and well captured narrative about U.S, history and it's current cultural formations.Book Review: A fresh look at the Puritans
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
As usual, Sarah Vowell makes a seemingly dull subject very interesting. She argues persuasively that the Puritans were not, as they have come to be seen, dullards and bores. They loved literature and politics, and reveled in debate and conversation. Sure, Vowell, says, they didn't swing and party, but they were passionate about their faith and their community. Vowell's writing is, as always, colloquial, not academic, and she makes clear her empathy for these hardy ancestors. The book peters out toward the end, as the Puritans are joined by other settlers who are not so pious and their passion dissipates. Still, a good read for 7/8s of the book.Book Review: A good book from a great writer.
Summary: 3 Stars
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.Book Review: A little-- well-- wordy...
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I love Sarah Vowell's books. She is an absolute master at examining a historical subject, relating it to the world we live in, and inserting her personal foibles to it, all in a narrative that moves so smoothly and quickly that you're sometimes surprised that you've read the whole book at a sitting. That's what she attempts to do here, but she doesn't quite pull it off this time.
Don't misunderstand me; this isn't at all a bad book. In fact, it's fascinating. It is jam-packed with fascinating information about the Massachusetts Puritans and the religious, social, and historical context of their settlement. Vowell weaves comments about her family background, education, travels, and hopes and fears into the narrative, just as she usually does.
When Vowell's writing works best, it's driven by her quirkiness and her ability to veer off on what seems to be a tangent, then bring everything together in the end. She does that here, but just not as well as in her other books. Perhaps the subject just isn't as susceptible to the Vowell treatment as the subjects of her other books.
I actually enjoyed this book, and I recommend it highly. However, it's just not as good as her other books made me expect it to be. Well worth reading, though.