The Wordy Shipmates is New York Times-bestselling author Sarah Vowell's exploration of the Puritans and their journey to America to become the people of John Winthrop's "city upon a hill"--a 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 conformity's tyrannical enforcer? Answer: Yes! * Was Rhode Island's architect, Roger Williams, America's 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 Vowell's 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 America's most celebrated voices. Thou shalt enjoy it.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Sarah Vowell is a gem:
But is this audiobook a gem? I couldn't tell you. See, I don't have a cd player apart from my computer. And the computer can't read these discs. Fancy copy protection. Pretty dumb if you ask me. So how to review the book? Well the audiobook has to get thumbs down for the content protection. I mean, come on, are there that many ravenous bittorent pirates who are out there saying "to heck with the latest porn and The Dark Knight, I gotta file share that new Sarah Vowell immediately!" So I could have... more info
Great Idea but Does not Fully Deliver:
I will admit that I enjoyed this book very much. I think Sarah Vowell did a great job of explaining how the Puritans who first settled here in 1620 & 1630 have had a continual and ongoing impact on the U.S. Her irreverent tone and tongue in cheek approach to telling their story and her own search for their modern day remnants is very well written. I do disagree with a number of the points that argue that Vowell argues that the somehow the Puritans created this modern religious right wing colossus.... more info
Vowell Is A Historian's John Stewart:
Witty, droll, and insightful, she took on the early Massachusetts Bay Colony--the Puritans who settled Masschutsetts Bay--Salem, Boston, Cambridge, etcetera ten years after Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock--but puts what they wrote and did in the context of their time and what occurred before and after: from John Wycliffe's fourteen century English translation of the Bible to the present, including Thanksgiving episodes in Happy Days and President Bush's justification for invading Iraq.
Vowell had a... more info
A Great Audio Book for Peopl Who Don't Like Audio Books:
I'm writing about the audio version of the book, and so will gloss over some of the virtues of the book itself. One of the great treats in Vowell's work is that it's so conversational-- erudite and yet intimate at the same time. It's no surprise that Vowell completely captures that in her reading of her own work. Audiobooks often play like radio theater, or a Reading Fraught With Import. Pop this one in the car cd player, and it's like taking a trip with a smart, funny traveling companion. There... more info
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