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The Wordy Shipmates
From the author of Lafayette in the Somewhat United States, 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 *Was Massachusetts Bay Colony governor John Winthrop a communitarian, a Christlike Christian, or conformity?s tyrannical enforcer? 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.
273 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 7, 2008
738 people are currently reading
12218 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Vowell
18 books3,166 followersSarah Jane Vowell (MA, Art History, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1999; BA, Modern Languages and Literature, Montana State University, 1993) is a historian, journalist, essayist, social commentator, and actress. She has written seven nonfiction books on American history and culture. Vowell was a contributing editor for the radio program This American Life on Public Radio International from 1996 to 2008, where she produced numerous commentaries and documentaries. She was also the voice of the teenage superhero Violet Parr in the 2004 animated film The Incredibles and its 2018 sequel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,813 reviews
July 6, 2015
One of the great things about living in New York City was the parties. Most parties had a pretty broad spectrum of people in attendance; still, finding interesting (and fun) people to talk to always presented a challenge (nowadays, I just log onto Goodreads). Examples:
Incoherent punk musician who hasn’t slept or taken a shower in, I’m guessing, three days.
Wall Street type who rhapsodizes about hedge funds for 20 minute and whose enthusiasm soon becomes sandpaper on my brain.
Surgeons who describe their latest procedure in detail. I think I’ll pass on those stuffed mushrooms and mini hotdogs, thanks.
Cute Flight Attendant who constantly complains about her layover in (insert foreign city here). She usually leaves with the incoherent punk musician.
Which brings me to Sarah Vowell, (finally!) someone I would have loved to hang out with.
Here’s someone who not only can articulate about almost anything, but is witty as well. Anyone who can make a history of the Puritans interesting and funny is first rate in my book. Kudos for weaving such diverse things as the Brady Bunch, Whitney Houston and Bruce Springsteen into her enlightening and entertaining narrative.
Random thoughts:
John Winthrop, first governor of Massachusetts Colony, had some guy’s ears cut off as punishment. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, but an ear for being a loudmouth?
Roger Williams, who founded Rhode Island, and Anne Hutchinson, who rocked the boat on the whole Protestant belief thing, were significant in Puritan circles and as people who laid the ground work for future American ideas, but were both banned because they just didn’t know when to be quiet. Not big at Puritan parties either.
The Pequot War was a template for Indian massacres for centuries. “We’re outgunned, so let’s sneak up on the Indian fort and burn it and its inhabitants to the ground.”
Definitely on the lookout for more from Sarah Vowell.
Incoherent punk musician who hasn’t slept or taken a shower in, I’m guessing, three days.
Wall Street type who rhapsodizes about hedge funds for 20 minute and whose enthusiasm soon becomes sandpaper on my brain.
Surgeons who describe their latest procedure in detail. I think I’ll pass on those stuffed mushrooms and mini hotdogs, thanks.
Cute Flight Attendant who constantly complains about her layover in (insert foreign city here). She usually leaves with the incoherent punk musician.
Which brings me to Sarah Vowell, (finally!) someone I would have loved to hang out with.
Here’s someone who not only can articulate about almost anything, but is witty as well. Anyone who can make a history of the Puritans interesting and funny is first rate in my book. Kudos for weaving such diverse things as the Brady Bunch, Whitney Houston and Bruce Springsteen into her enlightening and entertaining narrative.
Random thoughts:
John Winthrop, first governor of Massachusetts Colony, had some guy’s ears cut off as punishment. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, but an ear for being a loudmouth?
Roger Williams, who founded Rhode Island, and Anne Hutchinson, who rocked the boat on the whole Protestant belief thing, were significant in Puritan circles and as people who laid the ground work for future American ideas, but were both banned because they just didn’t know when to be quiet. Not big at Puritan parties either.
The Pequot War was a template for Indian massacres for centuries. “We’re outgunned, so let’s sneak up on the Indian fort and burn it and its inhabitants to the ground.”
Definitely on the lookout for more from Sarah Vowell.
April 29, 2015
This Sarah Vowell book about the Puritans in 17th century New England is perhaps her most Sarah Vowell-ian work. By that I mean, it's interesting but meandering, it's humorous but it's dense, it's historical but also modern.
Much of the book focuses on John Winthrop, the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Vowell said she was interested in Winthrop and his shipmates in the 1630s because "the country I live in is haunted by the Puritans' vision of themselves as God's chosen people, as a beacon of righteousness that all others are to admire. The most obvious and influential example of that mind-set is John Winthrop's sermon 'A Model of Christian Charity,' in which he calls on New England to be 'as a city upon a hill.'"
(That phrase "city upon a hill" originally came from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, and politicians have been borrowing it ever since. John F. Kennedy used it in 1961, and Ronald Reagan appropriated it in 1984. I'm excited to see who uses it next!)
I enjoyed most of The Wordy Shipmates, but also found a few parts dull or silly. For example, I thought too much space was devoted to an episode of the TV show "The Brady Bunch" that depicted the Pilgrims.
My favorite section was about Anne Hutchinson, a woman whose strong religious beliefs got her banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The colony leaders were so freaked out by Anne that they decided to found Harvard College so they could better control what ministers taught. (You go, girl!)
Another interesting section was on the Pequot War (1636-1638), which was between the English colonists and some Native American allies, the Narragansett and Mohegan:
That paragraph is an example of what Sarah Vowell does best — she provides history, context, commentary and humor in one nice little bundle.
I listened to this on audio, which I've learned is the best way to experience a Sarah Vowell book, and it had a great cast of characters, including Campbell Scott, Peter Dinklage, John Oliver, Catherine Keener and John Slattery. I had tried to read the print before but couldn't get into it, and I'm glad I found an audio copy.
Recommended for American history fans who have a sense of humor and who don't mind circuitous storytelling.
Much of the book focuses on John Winthrop, the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Vowell said she was interested in Winthrop and his shipmates in the 1630s because "the country I live in is haunted by the Puritans' vision of themselves as God's chosen people, as a beacon of righteousness that all others are to admire. The most obvious and influential example of that mind-set is John Winthrop's sermon 'A Model of Christian Charity,' in which he calls on New England to be 'as a city upon a hill.'"
(That phrase "city upon a hill" originally came from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, and politicians have been borrowing it ever since. John F. Kennedy used it in 1961, and Ronald Reagan appropriated it in 1984. I'm excited to see who uses it next!)
I enjoyed most of The Wordy Shipmates, but also found a few parts dull or silly. For example, I thought too much space was devoted to an episode of the TV show "The Brady Bunch" that depicted the Pilgrims.
My favorite section was about Anne Hutchinson, a woman whose strong religious beliefs got her banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The colony leaders were so freaked out by Anne that they decided to found Harvard College so they could better control what ministers taught. (You go, girl!)
Another interesting section was on the Pequot War (1636-1638), which was between the English colonists and some Native American allies, the Narragansett and Mohegan:
"The Pequot War is a pure war. And by pure I don't mean good. I mean it is war straight up, a war set off by murder and vengeance and fueled by misunderstanding, jealousy, hatred, stupidity, racism, lust for power, lust for land, and most of all, greed, all of it headed toward a climax of slaughter. The English are diabolical. The Narragansett and the Mohegan are willing accomplices. The Pequot commit distasteful acts of violence and are clueless as to just how vindictive the English can be when provoked. Which is to say that there's no one to root for. Well, one could root for Pequot babies not to be burned alive, but I wouldn't get my hopes up."
That paragraph is an example of what Sarah Vowell does best — she provides history, context, commentary and humor in one nice little bundle.
I listened to this on audio, which I've learned is the best way to experience a Sarah Vowell book, and it had a great cast of characters, including Campbell Scott, Peter Dinklage, John Oliver, Catherine Keener and John Slattery. I had tried to read the print before but couldn't get into it, and I'm glad I found an audio copy.
Recommended for American history fans who have a sense of humor and who don't mind circuitous storytelling.
February 9, 2009
Okay, here goes:
I’m torn on The Wordy Shipmates. I’m still a relative newbie to Sarah Vowell. With Assassination Vacation, I had that new love vibe going on. All that gushy ‘You’re so awesome, I’m so glad that I found you, where have you been all my life’ feeling. With The Partly Cloudy Patriot, I moved to that next step in a relationship, where you start to learn about the person and some of it reminds you why you fell in love and then sometimes it’s all like ‘My God, you can stop talking now. I know enough about your weird ass family, thankyouverymuch.’ But the love is still there.
So, this is my third venture---I realize I’m missing out on the early years—I’ll get around to it, promise. Initially, I was pleased as punch (??) I thought ‘WHOO!! NEW ENGLAND!! WHOO!!’ because, if you know anything about me, you know that I am a self-proclaimed New England elitist. I’ve lived my entire life here, save a few years in my early 20s when I thought to venture a wee bit south. I have learned that I cannot function outside of it. (Bear with my N.E. rant for a moment) I find that when I leave New England that people are so SLOW. They walk slow, talk slow, and are TOO laid back.. c’mon people! Where’s the urgency?!? We’re movers! We’re founders! WE ROCK. We’ve given the world Stephen King, Harvard, Larry Bird and that guy from the Patriots. Ben & Jerry’s and Robert Frost. Think about Aerosmith and Boston Crème Pie, think johnny cakes, the Farrelly Brothers, Arthur Miller, and Noah-freaking-Webster.
Yeah, we’re pretty awesome.
So, anyway… I was super excited to discover that Sarah’s (yes, she is Sarah to me, what of it?) new book was based on the Puritans settling down in what will be New England in the 1630’s. I spent my formative years in Boston… I followed that red line up and down Tremont and walked the cobblestoned streets of Beacon Hill. I got a really bad perm in Charleston and saw my first Rocky Horror show in Harvard Square. This was home.
Yeah, so, it starts off with this great part about John Cotton’s speech to the Puritans about to set sail to Boston. It’s all ‘Rah! Rah! Yay God! Go forth and spread the Word!’—it’s pure Vowell from page one:
’By the time Cotton says amen, he has fought Mexico for Texas, bought Alaska from the Russians, and dropped napalm on Vietnam. Then he lays a wreath on Custer’s grave and revs past Wounded Knee. Then he claps when the Marquis de Lafayette tells Congress that ‘someday America will save the world.” Then he smiles when Abraham Lincoln calls the United States “the last best hope of earth.” Then he frees Cuba, which would be news to Cuba. Then he signs the lease on Guantanamo Bay.’
Then there’s the City on a Hill speech of John Winthop’s, which further solidifies how awesome we New Englanders are. And the whole Reagan comparison (vintage Vowell) which Shelly does a great job going into in her review. I’m practically weeping because I’m so happy.
Then…well…umm… I got bored. (sorta like you guys are, if you’re still reading this, right?)
I’m sorry, there’s only so much Puritanical Speak I can handle before I start to fade. Maybe I get sidetracked when she mentions the Brady Bunch Thanksgiving episode and decide to watch TVLand for a bit… Maybe I nap… who knows?
It takes a month before I can get through this and I’m about to give up, admit my lack of retaining anything that isn’t shiny or produced by Norman Lear (who’s from CT…awesome.) When she starts in on Anne Hutchinson; then I’m back in the game.
Her passages re: Anne and Mary Dyer are wonderful. And I’m not just oohing and ahhing because ‘Yo! Women Rule!’ or anything (okay, maybe just a little…) I think that Sarah does a great job with her interpretation of Anne’s trial. And the banter between Winthrop and Hutchinson.
(Genealogy buffs might enjoy learning that this lopsided battle of the wits will be repeated between Winthrop and Hutchinson’s descendents during the presidential debates of 2004. Winthrop’s heir, John Kerry, debates Hutchinson’s great-something grandson, George W. Bush. Only in this instance it’s the Hutchinson who is flummoxed by his opponent’s sensical answers. Bush’s constant blinking appears on television as if he thinks the answers to the questions he’s being asked are tattooed inside his eyelids.)
I’m definitely pleased that I stuck it out. Especially when I get to the last 4 pages when she talks about Kennedy and brings it all back to Winthrop’s City on the Hill speech:
’Then [Kennedy:] boils down the two phrases from “A Model of Christian Charity” that mean the most to him: ‘We must always consider, [Winthrop:] said, that we shall be as a city upon a hill. That eyes of all people are upon us.’ I fall for those words every time I hear them, even though they’re dangerous, even though they’re arrogant, even though they’re rude.’
Because, yeah, we New Englanders are proud (and sometimes rude.) And even if we sprout from crazed religious fervors that you know lead to gossipy hormonal teens like Winona Ryder to accuse Joan Allen and have her burned at the stake all for Daniel Day Lewis… we’re still cool.
I’m torn on The Wordy Shipmates. I’m still a relative newbie to Sarah Vowell. With Assassination Vacation, I had that new love vibe going on. All that gushy ‘You’re so awesome, I’m so glad that I found you, where have you been all my life’ feeling. With The Partly Cloudy Patriot, I moved to that next step in a relationship, where you start to learn about the person and some of it reminds you why you fell in love and then sometimes it’s all like ‘My God, you can stop talking now. I know enough about your weird ass family, thankyouverymuch.’ But the love is still there.
So, this is my third venture---I realize I’m missing out on the early years—I’ll get around to it, promise. Initially, I was pleased as punch (??) I thought ‘WHOO!! NEW ENGLAND!! WHOO!!’ because, if you know anything about me, you know that I am a self-proclaimed New England elitist. I’ve lived my entire life here, save a few years in my early 20s when I thought to venture a wee bit south. I have learned that I cannot function outside of it. (Bear with my N.E. rant for a moment) I find that when I leave New England that people are so SLOW. They walk slow, talk slow, and are TOO laid back.. c’mon people! Where’s the urgency?!? We’re movers! We’re founders! WE ROCK. We’ve given the world Stephen King, Harvard, Larry Bird and that guy from the Patriots. Ben & Jerry’s and Robert Frost. Think about Aerosmith and Boston Crème Pie, think johnny cakes, the Farrelly Brothers, Arthur Miller, and Noah-freaking-Webster.
Yeah, we’re pretty awesome.
So, anyway… I was super excited to discover that Sarah’s (yes, she is Sarah to me, what of it?) new book was based on the Puritans settling down in what will be New England in the 1630’s. I spent my formative years in Boston… I followed that red line up and down Tremont and walked the cobblestoned streets of Beacon Hill. I got a really bad perm in Charleston and saw my first Rocky Horror show in Harvard Square. This was home.
Yeah, so, it starts off with this great part about John Cotton’s speech to the Puritans about to set sail to Boston. It’s all ‘Rah! Rah! Yay God! Go forth and spread the Word!’—it’s pure Vowell from page one:
’By the time Cotton says amen, he has fought Mexico for Texas, bought Alaska from the Russians, and dropped napalm on Vietnam. Then he lays a wreath on Custer’s grave and revs past Wounded Knee. Then he claps when the Marquis de Lafayette tells Congress that ‘someday America will save the world.” Then he smiles when Abraham Lincoln calls the United States “the last best hope of earth.” Then he frees Cuba, which would be news to Cuba. Then he signs the lease on Guantanamo Bay.’
Then there’s the City on a Hill speech of John Winthop’s, which further solidifies how awesome we New Englanders are. And the whole Reagan comparison (vintage Vowell) which Shelly does a great job going into in her review. I’m practically weeping because I’m so happy.
Then…well…umm… I got bored. (sorta like you guys are, if you’re still reading this, right?)
I’m sorry, there’s only so much Puritanical Speak I can handle before I start to fade. Maybe I get sidetracked when she mentions the Brady Bunch Thanksgiving episode and decide to watch TVLand for a bit… Maybe I nap… who knows?
It takes a month before I can get through this and I’m about to give up, admit my lack of retaining anything that isn’t shiny or produced by Norman Lear (who’s from CT…awesome.) When she starts in on Anne Hutchinson; then I’m back in the game.
Her passages re: Anne and Mary Dyer are wonderful. And I’m not just oohing and ahhing because ‘Yo! Women Rule!’ or anything (okay, maybe just a little…) I think that Sarah does a great job with her interpretation of Anne’s trial. And the banter between Winthrop and Hutchinson.
(Genealogy buffs might enjoy learning that this lopsided battle of the wits will be repeated between Winthrop and Hutchinson’s descendents during the presidential debates of 2004. Winthrop’s heir, John Kerry, debates Hutchinson’s great-something grandson, George W. Bush. Only in this instance it’s the Hutchinson who is flummoxed by his opponent’s sensical answers. Bush’s constant blinking appears on television as if he thinks the answers to the questions he’s being asked are tattooed inside his eyelids.)
I’m definitely pleased that I stuck it out. Especially when I get to the last 4 pages when she talks about Kennedy and brings it all back to Winthrop’s City on the Hill speech:
’Then [Kennedy:] boils down the two phrases from “A Model of Christian Charity” that mean the most to him: ‘We must always consider, [Winthrop:] said, that we shall be as a city upon a hill. That eyes of all people are upon us.’ I fall for those words every time I hear them, even though they’re dangerous, even though they’re arrogant, even though they’re rude.’
Because, yeah, we New Englanders are proud (and sometimes rude.) And even if we sprout from crazed religious fervors that you know lead to gossipy hormonal teens like Winona Ryder to accuse Joan Allen and have her burned at the stake all for Daniel Day Lewis… we’re still cool.
October 12, 2009
I can hardly believe that I'm going to write these words: I did not enjoy The Wordy Shipmates. Anyone who knows me and my love of Sarah Vowell will be *shocked* by this, as am I. But that fact remains that I found it boring. A slog. Too totally Puritanical.
I know what she was attempting to do - put a human face on the Puritans who founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony, draw parallels to our modern evangelical (is that phrase an oxymoron?) Christian country, and make sharp distinctions between the groups when appropriate (newsflash: even Puritans valued reading and learning, folks). But she gets so bogged down in telling the life stories of so many characters that it's hard to stay focused on her point. Which she only returns to every 50 pages when she comes up for air from the biography of, say, Henry Vane. I know, I don't know who that is either.
To me, Vowell is at her best when she weaves her own story and outlook on modern day America with the forgotten history of this country. The Wordy Shipmates, however, is essentially the re-telling of forgotten history with maybe six paragraphs of her analysis inserted randomly throughout it's 254 pages. This isn't NEARLY enough Sarah Vowell for me. So I leave the book dissatisfied.
One bright spot: I learned that the Hutchison Parkway heading into NYC through the boroughs is names after a rather feisty Puritan named Anne Hutchison who was banished from the Bay Colony because she questioned beliefs of the church. At least I can think about that next time I'm in traffic...
I know what she was attempting to do - put a human face on the Puritans who founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony, draw parallels to our modern evangelical (is that phrase an oxymoron?) Christian country, and make sharp distinctions between the groups when appropriate (newsflash: even Puritans valued reading and learning, folks). But she gets so bogged down in telling the life stories of so many characters that it's hard to stay focused on her point. Which she only returns to every 50 pages when she comes up for air from the biography of, say, Henry Vane. I know, I don't know who that is either.
To me, Vowell is at her best when she weaves her own story and outlook on modern day America with the forgotten history of this country. The Wordy Shipmates, however, is essentially the re-telling of forgotten history with maybe six paragraphs of her analysis inserted randomly throughout it's 254 pages. This isn't NEARLY enough Sarah Vowell for me. So I leave the book dissatisfied.
One bright spot: I learned that the Hutchison Parkway heading into NYC through the boroughs is names after a rather feisty Puritan named Anne Hutchison who was banished from the Bay Colony because she questioned beliefs of the church. At least I can think about that next time I'm in traffic...
June 2, 2022
I love Sarah Vowell. There's no other way to put it. This book is a perfect blend of historical essay and pop culture lit. Vowell's take on the Puritan Massachusetts Bay colony and Governor John Winthrop shows the "shining city on the hill" ideal as the Puritans saw it; which is not quite the way that Ronald Reagan meant it when he co-opted the phrase in the 1980's. Vowell is one of the few authors in the world today who can tie the two visions together and show how the people we are today can relate to the group of folks who left England in 1630 to start anew.
This book I recommend to just about everybody who wants to understand modern day America and the history of the Massachusetts colony. 5, nay 6, stars (out of 5).
This book I recommend to just about everybody who wants to understand modern day America and the history of the Massachusetts colony. 5, nay 6, stars (out of 5).
March 23, 2009
To love me is to know me, and to know me, is to know that I love Sarah Vowell. I think it was my good friend Kelsey who said, "You have to read this book!" She was talking about Take the Cannoli. I read it, and I loved it. Then I read Partly Cloudy Patriot, and loved it as well. I listened to This American Life almost religiously in the hopes of hearing one of her radio essays. So when I heard her read a snippet of The Wordy Shipmates on This American Life a couple of years ago- I nearly drove off the road. A new Sarah Vowell book? I'm in, sign me up! But it turns out the book was still a year away from being published at the time. Sadness abounded. But finally it came out, and there I was in a first run bookstore (I work for a used bookstore- so it takes a lot for me to buy a book at full price- $20 for a book?? no way- okay, well maybe if it's a book I really wanted to read).
So, The Wordy Shipmates... I enjoyed it- though, and oh how it pains me to say this, not as much as I enjoyed her other books. Here's the dealio- I think Sarah Vowell is stupendous at the essay- but when she has to carry out a thesis for more than 20 pages, well, the waters get a bit murky. I read some reviews for this book on Amazon (and I must say reading Amazon reviews is awesome. The worlds biggest internet bullies write Amazon.com review reviews. I swear every third comment on a review is, "Did you even read the book?" and then there's name calling, and I'm sure someone ends up crying behind their laptop- and I'm sure that person wears glasses and never played any sport) and a big complaint I read over and over is how Vowell tried to link the Puritans self righteousness to the former administrations apparent need to police the world. Stuffy conservatives who wear bow ties and suspenders may have a problem with this- and I'm not sure I'm convinced by her arguments either. Still I was able to glean other things from the book.
So the book is about the trials and tribulations of those wacky Puritan pilgrims that came over to our now fair country and set the seeds for what would become America. There were cold winters, and Dutchmen, and the French, and of course the Indians, well, Native Americans. The zealot Puritans had their own zealots to put up with, which caused for hi jinks and death, very cold bloody death. But what the book does nail home, at least for me, is the immense obstacles that these Puritans went through just so they could sit together and talk about how great they were in the eyes of the Lord. Which sounds more facetious than I mean it to be (which I guess proves I've been reading Sarah Vowell) I have a genuine admiration for these guys who believed so much in something that they traveled over an ocean to start up a new life in a foreign land. I have a difficult time driving to work in the morning. I don't like going more than a couple of days without watching something my DVR has recorded. I like sleeping on a bed, and taking a shower, and pooping in a toilet that flushes. I could not have traveled across the ocean, for God. I don't really go to church. I don't even like water. But I like the idea that there were people- maybe slightly crazy people, that were willing to do that, just cause it seemed like the thing to do. I think that's neat.
So, The Wordy Shipmates... I enjoyed it- though, and oh how it pains me to say this, not as much as I enjoyed her other books. Here's the dealio- I think Sarah Vowell is stupendous at the essay- but when she has to carry out a thesis for more than 20 pages, well, the waters get a bit murky. I read some reviews for this book on Amazon (and I must say reading Amazon reviews is awesome. The worlds biggest internet bullies write Amazon.com review reviews. I swear every third comment on a review is, "Did you even read the book?" and then there's name calling, and I'm sure someone ends up crying behind their laptop- and I'm sure that person wears glasses and never played any sport) and a big complaint I read over and over is how Vowell tried to link the Puritans self righteousness to the former administrations apparent need to police the world. Stuffy conservatives who wear bow ties and suspenders may have a problem with this- and I'm not sure I'm convinced by her arguments either. Still I was able to glean other things from the book.
So the book is about the trials and tribulations of those wacky Puritan pilgrims that came over to our now fair country and set the seeds for what would become America. There were cold winters, and Dutchmen, and the French, and of course the Indians, well, Native Americans. The zealot Puritans had their own zealots to put up with, which caused for hi jinks and death, very cold bloody death. But what the book does nail home, at least for me, is the immense obstacles that these Puritans went through just so they could sit together and talk about how great they were in the eyes of the Lord. Which sounds more facetious than I mean it to be (which I guess proves I've been reading Sarah Vowell) I have a genuine admiration for these guys who believed so much in something that they traveled over an ocean to start up a new life in a foreign land. I have a difficult time driving to work in the morning. I don't like going more than a couple of days without watching something my DVR has recorded. I like sleeping on a bed, and taking a shower, and pooping in a toilet that flushes. I could not have traveled across the ocean, for God. I don't really go to church. I don't even like water. But I like the idea that there were people- maybe slightly crazy people, that were willing to do that, just cause it seemed like the thing to do. I think that's neat.
October 9, 2008
I think it's funny how there's always a moment during a Sarah Vowell book where I go, 'oh yeah! She just writes american history!' It came pretty early on in this one, too.
This is not my favorite of her books. It's a lot more american history, and a lot less Sarah Vowell being a smartass about american history, than I prefer. I mean, I was into it, and I finished it, and I kept all the Puritans whose names begin with Ws straight, but I don't know. The whole appeal of Sarah Vowell for me is not that she makes american history accessible, it's that she uses american history as a vehicle for, y'know, talking about other stuff. Like the Brady Bunch, and her nephew's martial-arts inspired interpretive dancing, that sort of stuff. Which all was in here, just y'know. Not as much as explanations of pamphlet wars in 1640.
And I mean to her credit I followed what she was talking about in the pamphlet wars! I zone out pretty easily, and all I really like is the Cloverfield Monster, blastbeats and cussing. So I think she succeeded and all, she's just not the kind of writer i connect with in a five-star kinda way.
Also, I guess it felt a little unfocused to me? Like, posterity will probably show me to be wrong when I read more reviews of it, but there was a thread of 'this fucked up place where we are in american history right now? We got here DIRECTLY from our roots in these people' that I would've liked to see fleshed out more- which would have involved, again, more Sarah Vowell talking about these modern times in our lives. Y'know?
I like typing "Sarah Vowell" over and over like the way the RZA says "Bill Murray" in "Coffee & Cigarettes." Right Sarah Vowell?
Anyway yeah. My point is, I was interested, I was engaged, but ultimately, this is an American History book with a little meta smartass commentary. I want more meta smartass commentary from you, Sarah Vowell! There were whole paragraphs where you didn't even mock any of these old timey people.
...
Oh also I like the part where she's like, 'Anne Hutchinson incriminated herself because she didn't know when to shut the fuck up. Like me!' Because I can relate too.
....
OH AND ANOTHER THING! She makes fun of whatsisname for arguing that Christianity fell off around the time of Constantine, but whatsisname was kind of right. I mean, Constantine was the one who took 'turn the other cheek' and turned it into an official religion or a state, to justify wars and stuff. Hasn't she read Mark Kurlansky's book about nonviolence?
Oh, right, nobody read that book.
This is not my favorite of her books. It's a lot more american history, and a lot less Sarah Vowell being a smartass about american history, than I prefer. I mean, I was into it, and I finished it, and I kept all the Puritans whose names begin with Ws straight, but I don't know. The whole appeal of Sarah Vowell for me is not that she makes american history accessible, it's that she uses american history as a vehicle for, y'know, talking about other stuff. Like the Brady Bunch, and her nephew's martial-arts inspired interpretive dancing, that sort of stuff. Which all was in here, just y'know. Not as much as explanations of pamphlet wars in 1640.
And I mean to her credit I followed what she was talking about in the pamphlet wars! I zone out pretty easily, and all I really like is the Cloverfield Monster, blastbeats and cussing. So I think she succeeded and all, she's just not the kind of writer i connect with in a five-star kinda way.
Also, I guess it felt a little unfocused to me? Like, posterity will probably show me to be wrong when I read more reviews of it, but there was a thread of 'this fucked up place where we are in american history right now? We got here DIRECTLY from our roots in these people' that I would've liked to see fleshed out more- which would have involved, again, more Sarah Vowell talking about these modern times in our lives. Y'know?
I like typing "Sarah Vowell" over and over like the way the RZA says "Bill Murray" in "Coffee & Cigarettes." Right Sarah Vowell?
Anyway yeah. My point is, I was interested, I was engaged, but ultimately, this is an American History book with a little meta smartass commentary. I want more meta smartass commentary from you, Sarah Vowell! There were whole paragraphs where you didn't even mock any of these old timey people.
...
Oh also I like the part where she's like, 'Anne Hutchinson incriminated herself because she didn't know when to shut the fuck up. Like me!' Because I can relate too.
....
OH AND ANOTHER THING! She makes fun of whatsisname for arguing that Christianity fell off around the time of Constantine, but whatsisname was kind of right. I mean, Constantine was the one who took 'turn the other cheek' and turned it into an official religion or a state, to justify wars and stuff. Hasn't she read Mark Kurlansky's book about nonviolence?
Oh, right, nobody read that book.
September 23, 2016
This book took a while to get going for me. There was a lot of meandering prose, detours, and tangents, and honestly, I began to doubt my love for Sarah Vowell: Don't her books always seem just a wee bit better in retrospect than they do when I'm actually reading them, I wondered? Possibly, but thankfully this book did eventually pick up, and the narrative became more linear, which worked better for me. Honestly, my American history education has been woefully inadequate, so I was happy to get beyond the broader picture of the pilgrims' progress and into the details, and I love New England so learning about how the various colonies/cities were founded was fascinating to me. Plus Sarah Vowell is always good at drawing parallels with the present day, which are instructive, interesting, and depressing all at once. After this I'm very excited to read Lafayette in the Somewhat United States, although I already own Unfamiliar Fishes so that will probably be next.
December 11, 2008
Sarah Vowell's quirky 12 year old voice almost requires me to read her books in audio form. This is the second book of Vowell's I've purchased in audio format, and beyond some of the glitches (damn you iTunes!) it's the preferred way to go.
This book is probably the driest thing I've ever read by Vowell. Normally her The American Life bits and her previous books are a lot more anecdote-heavy, which was always a major selling point. She has a knack for taking some really diverse topics and relating them to some surprisingly touching personal stories.
There's still some of that here, like her describing her nephew's argument with an unusually dedicated Pilgrim reenactment actor, but they're spread out a lot farther than usual. The historical data is hot and heavy here, sometimes to the detriment of overall enjoyment.
There are a lot of insights to be found in her discussion of the Puritans, who were generally portrayed as cartoonish zealots in most historical portrayals. Vowell actually finds a lot to be admired in ideological convictions even while being disturbed by their extremism and bouts of hypocrisy.
For me it was a little off-putting to hear major characters performed by Daily Show players like John Hodgeman and John Oliver, and occasionally these bits are awkwardly shoe horned into the flow of the narrative, but it doesn't come up enough to be truly distracting.
Well worth reading if you're into history with a humorous edge.
This book is probably the driest thing I've ever read by Vowell. Normally her The American Life bits and her previous books are a lot more anecdote-heavy, which was always a major selling point. She has a knack for taking some really diverse topics and relating them to some surprisingly touching personal stories.
There's still some of that here, like her describing her nephew's argument with an unusually dedicated Pilgrim reenactment actor, but they're spread out a lot farther than usual. The historical data is hot and heavy here, sometimes to the detriment of overall enjoyment.
There are a lot of insights to be found in her discussion of the Puritans, who were generally portrayed as cartoonish zealots in most historical portrayals. Vowell actually finds a lot to be admired in ideological convictions even while being disturbed by their extremism and bouts of hypocrisy.
For me it was a little off-putting to hear major characters performed by Daily Show players like John Hodgeman and John Oliver, and occasionally these bits are awkwardly shoe horned into the flow of the narrative, but it doesn't come up enough to be truly distracting.
Well worth reading if you're into history with a humorous edge.
August 6, 2008
Sarah Vowell is of Cherokee descent, and was raised in a Pentecostal community. This would, to a large degree, explain her fascination with Puritans. I am of Catholic descent, and could give two shits whether there is such an entity as God or not. This would, to an equally large degree, explain my total uninterest in Puritans; they didn't eradicate my ancestors, and they had no part in shaping my weltanschaung. To the extent that I regard them at all, I think of them as a bunch of kooks, a benighted group of Malvolios bustling about the New World, killing the native populations, burning witches, and doing their darnedest to make sure nobody, but nobody, was in any danger of having a good time.
It says much for Sarah Vowell's writing abilities and comic sensibilities that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. To me, she is the exact negative image of Bill Bryson; whereas he regards even the closest of issues with an ironic detachment, Sarah Vowell is capable of expressing outrage, eloquently and with humor, over events in the remotest past. As writers, I enjoy them equally.
It says much for Sarah Vowell's writing abilities and comic sensibilities that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. To me, she is the exact negative image of Bill Bryson; whereas he regards even the closest of issues with an ironic detachment, Sarah Vowell is capable of expressing outrage, eloquently and with humor, over events in the remotest past. As writers, I enjoy them equally.
March 14, 2015
I chose to read this book immediately after reading The Winthrop Woman because Vowell's topic was the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the same era. I had hoped to learn more about the history of those days. I did, in a way, but Ms. Vowell's points were usually hidden among attempts to be clever, and I tired quickly of sorting through such chaff to find the wheat. Is there truly a need to quote Monty Python regarding King Charles I? That sentence, on page 219 of my edition, ruined the erudite point Ms. Vowell had been working towards.
But even with saying that, I did learn more about the history of those days than I ever did in school, and I was saddened to see that her own nephew had no more formal knowledge of the Puritans and their legacy than I had been given 50 years ago.
But even with saying that, I did learn more about the history of those days than I ever did in school, and I was saddened to see that her own nephew had no more formal knowledge of the Puritans and their legacy than I had been given 50 years ago.
November 15, 2009
We don’t have a problem yet Sarah. But I am working on one. I am finding myself reading entire novels in-between your chapters. We’re still lovers—but I need to let you know I am seeing other people. I hope the passion resurrects but your expedition into the realm of Puritanism is leaving me limp in the brain. I won’t give up. Yet.
Old stuff:
Sarah was on The Daily Show again the other night hawking the arrival of her latest in paperback. And as Jon pointed out—it’s the same book she promoted on the show eight months ago, only lighter. I love it when she is on only because she is not an awkward guest and clearly gets the humor. She’s one of the few to give it right back when snarkasm comes fluttering her way.
I remember the comments when the book first came out. “It’s a difficult read.” Stewart said he had a hard time getting through it. I skimmed some of the Goodreads comments and that seems to be the consensus. I guess that is why I waited for the paperback to come out.
Oh well. Sarah can do no wrong. How thorny can it be? I’ll let you know.
This is not a review.
I just bought the book a couple hours ago—geez—but I need to vent about the bookstore.
Again.
I don’t have a neighborhood bookstore. There are two—Books a Million and B&N—each approximately fifteen miles from home. Not a big deal, but still, I have to make the drive.
BaM is closer by half a mile so I went there first. I just wanted to pick up Sarahs book and leave. Now, I have had problems with this store since day one. It is much larger than the B&N so I should be happier but the friggin place is laid out like a gorgon’s den. Nothing is where it should be, fiction is listed buy author and then mysteriously around M or N switches to Alpha by Title. What? I’m serious—there are no more authors past P? The poetry section is two shelves. The longest aisle dead ends. I asked a staff person what the building was before a bookstore. When told it was built for BaM I then questioned why the longest aisle in the store has no outlet—only to be met with a laugh and “Yah, we all wonder about that.”
I checked the ‘new releases’ rack in the front hoping Sarah would be there. Nope. I was fortunate a while ago to have found the one shelf containing essays at the end of the massive Science Fiction section so I knew where to look next. Nah, there was one copy of ‘Assassination Vacation’ and nothing else.
BaM does not have a computer for the unworthy so I couldn’t look up the title and hopefully procure a map to the hidden treasure. No, instead I had to slink over to the Customer Service Desk and wait. I am not sure if all the Books a Million go out of their way to hire the least qualified and highest rated staff on the lazy scale, but this particular store should be a universal case study for those wishing to create the ultimate ‘f*ck you’ atmosphere. On the We Could Give a Rats Ass scale, they are a 10.
One of the Collect a Paycheck for Doing Nothing team members was fondling books on the table marked ‘This is All the Shit We Can’t Sell.’ We made eye contact. By this point I was leaning on the Customer Service Desk contemplating taking a nap. I literally put my elbows on the counter, placed me head in my hands and closed my eyes when the languid employee opted to continue molesting one of the fifty copies of ‘Hitler’s Cookbook’ instead of walking over to the desk.
I thought about leaving—then thought, no, I want to see how long this will take.
Not long actually, but not satisfying either.
An assistant-manager (why always an assistant, are there really no managers in these places?) came flying up to the counter, and almost as fast, the instantly-sangfroid staff member flew to her side. Now I had two people wondering if I needed help.
No no, I come in here just to stand at the desk. It’s my favorite thing to do. That, and snack on the clumps from the kitty litter box.
With mutant superspeed the assistant manager vanished and I was left with my X-men reject, whom I could tell really knew his way around the computer.
My request was simple—just tell me where ‘Wordy Shipmates’ is located in the store. Don’t worry, you don’t have to take me there—just POINT—I’ll find it eventually.
I am accent free and enunciate my words clearly. I held my breath for a
moment when told no ‘Worthy Shipmates’ appeared on the magic BaM search engine. ‘Wordy.’ I spelled it. Ok that’s an easy mistake. But the guy with the magic terminal began to frown and shake his head. For dramatic effect he pretended to be searching other programs. I finally said “what?”
Of course I knew the next words out of his mouth. “We don’t have it in stock but we can order it for you. It should be here in two to three weeks.”
I have given up questioning bookstore minions about this long procurement time when I know I can go home, order on line, have the book delivered to my house in forty-eight hours—and it will be cheaper. I asked, “Why don’t you just order it from Amazon for me and I’ll pick it up at the store in a couple days?” “Why do you even bother with your own warehouse which is obviously located on the outskirts of Tralfalmadore?”
I know, I know . . . we have all had these little go-rounds, and there is nothing to be done about them. But the next few moments at the desk moved my experience into the realm of Twilight Zone. While still staring at the computer screen, the clerk stated with solid conviction “We will have a truck arriving tomorrow!” Damn, dude, you sound like you just found the cure for limp-dick syndrome.
My obvious reply, “Oh, will there be a copy of ‘WorDY Shipmates’ on board?”
“No.”
“Then why are you telling me this?”
Perhaps he was just overjoyed with the prospects of an imminent delivery—no matter the content. I will probably not show up that.
I drove over to Barnes and Ignoble. Sarah’s tome was on the new release rack by the front door. It took two minutes to grab it and go.
Old stuff:
Sarah was on The Daily Show again the other night hawking the arrival of her latest in paperback. And as Jon pointed out—it’s the same book she promoted on the show eight months ago, only lighter. I love it when she is on only because she is not an awkward guest and clearly gets the humor. She’s one of the few to give it right back when snarkasm comes fluttering her way.
I remember the comments when the book first came out. “It’s a difficult read.” Stewart said he had a hard time getting through it. I skimmed some of the Goodreads comments and that seems to be the consensus. I guess that is why I waited for the paperback to come out.
Oh well. Sarah can do no wrong. How thorny can it be? I’ll let you know.
This is not a review.
I just bought the book a couple hours ago—geez—but I need to vent about the bookstore.
Again.
I don’t have a neighborhood bookstore. There are two—Books a Million and B&N—each approximately fifteen miles from home. Not a big deal, but still, I have to make the drive.
BaM is closer by half a mile so I went there first. I just wanted to pick up Sarahs book and leave. Now, I have had problems with this store since day one. It is much larger than the B&N so I should be happier but the friggin place is laid out like a gorgon’s den. Nothing is where it should be, fiction is listed buy author and then mysteriously around M or N switches to Alpha by Title. What? I’m serious—there are no more authors past P? The poetry section is two shelves. The longest aisle dead ends. I asked a staff person what the building was before a bookstore. When told it was built for BaM I then questioned why the longest aisle in the store has no outlet—only to be met with a laugh and “Yah, we all wonder about that.”
I checked the ‘new releases’ rack in the front hoping Sarah would be there. Nope. I was fortunate a while ago to have found the one shelf containing essays at the end of the massive Science Fiction section so I knew where to look next. Nah, there was one copy of ‘Assassination Vacation’ and nothing else.
BaM does not have a computer for the unworthy so I couldn’t look up the title and hopefully procure a map to the hidden treasure. No, instead I had to slink over to the Customer Service Desk and wait. I am not sure if all the Books a Million go out of their way to hire the least qualified and highest rated staff on the lazy scale, but this particular store should be a universal case study for those wishing to create the ultimate ‘f*ck you’ atmosphere. On the We Could Give a Rats Ass scale, they are a 10.
One of the Collect a Paycheck for Doing Nothing team members was fondling books on the table marked ‘This is All the Shit We Can’t Sell.’ We made eye contact. By this point I was leaning on the Customer Service Desk contemplating taking a nap. I literally put my elbows on the counter, placed me head in my hands and closed my eyes when the languid employee opted to continue molesting one of the fifty copies of ‘Hitler’s Cookbook’ instead of walking over to the desk.
I thought about leaving—then thought, no, I want to see how long this will take.
Not long actually, but not satisfying either.
An assistant-manager (why always an assistant, are there really no managers in these places?) came flying up to the counter, and almost as fast, the instantly-sangfroid staff member flew to her side. Now I had two people wondering if I needed help.
No no, I come in here just to stand at the desk. It’s my favorite thing to do. That, and snack on the clumps from the kitty litter box.
With mutant superspeed the assistant manager vanished and I was left with my X-men reject, whom I could tell really knew his way around the computer.
My request was simple—just tell me where ‘Wordy Shipmates’ is located in the store. Don’t worry, you don’t have to take me there—just POINT—I’ll find it eventually.
I am accent free and enunciate my words clearly. I held my breath for a
moment when told no ‘Worthy Shipmates’ appeared on the magic BaM search engine. ‘Wordy.’ I spelled it. Ok that’s an easy mistake. But the guy with the magic terminal began to frown and shake his head. For dramatic effect he pretended to be searching other programs. I finally said “what?”
Of course I knew the next words out of his mouth. “We don’t have it in stock but we can order it for you. It should be here in two to three weeks.”
I have given up questioning bookstore minions about this long procurement time when I know I can go home, order on line, have the book delivered to my house in forty-eight hours—and it will be cheaper. I asked, “Why don’t you just order it from Amazon for me and I’ll pick it up at the store in a couple days?” “Why do you even bother with your own warehouse which is obviously located on the outskirts of Tralfalmadore?”
I know, I know . . . we have all had these little go-rounds, and there is nothing to be done about them. But the next few moments at the desk moved my experience into the realm of Twilight Zone. While still staring at the computer screen, the clerk stated with solid conviction “We will have a truck arriving tomorrow!” Damn, dude, you sound like you just found the cure for limp-dick syndrome.
My obvious reply, “Oh, will there be a copy of ‘WorDY Shipmates’ on board?”
“No.”
“Then why are you telling me this?”
Perhaps he was just overjoyed with the prospects of an imminent delivery—no matter the content. I will probably not show up that.
I drove over to Barnes and Ignoble. Sarah’s tome was on the new release rack by the front door. It took two minutes to grab it and go.
June 6, 2020
Nothing says beach read like a book about New England’s Puritans and the colonies they founded. I enjoyed Sarah Vowell’s The Wordy Shipmates for the same reasons I enjoyed Assassination Vacation: she focuses on a very specific time in history or a specific idea and explores that theme in a chatty, informal and personal way. If you’re at all curious about the founding of Boston but don’t want to engage in a long, dry historical tome, pick up this book.
Vowell’s book covers the founding of New England by the Puritans of the ship Arbella, not the famous Mayflower. There are theological differences between them that may seem slight to modern readers, but were a big deal to them. The Plymouth (Mayflower) colonists were Separatists. The Massachusetts Bay colonists were not. Vowell amusingly warns that “readers who squirm at microscopic theological differences might be unsuited to read a book about seventeenth-century Christians. Or, for that matter, a newspaper” (5). If you are okay with that insult and not squirming, Vowell goes on to explain the theological differences—basically, it goes back the Reformation and the King Henry VIII’s break with the Pope. The newly created Protestants liked the Church of England until they noticed it still had many of the trappings of Catholicism (popery): same church hierarchy, same Latin sermons, same work outfit (oh, those dastardly vestments!), same too-easily-achieved salvation. Puritans didn’t want a fancy church, and they wanted getting into heaven to be really hard…and extremely selective. Puritans believed that salvation is predetermined by God, and no amount of faith or good works will allow entry. So Puritans who completely revolted against the Church of England called themselves Separatists and sailed away on the Mayflower. Those who wanted to keep ties to the C of E because they thought they could reform it from the inside out called themselves Nonseparatists and sailed away on the Arbella. The Wordy Shipmates follows the journey of the Nonseparatists Massachusetts Bay colony.
I like Vowell’s prose because while it’s clear she is very intelligent and researches the hell out of her subjects, she is chatty and funny. She discusses how, as a child, she learned about American history via tv sitcoms. Specifically, The Brady Bunch and Happy Days. She compares those Puritan-themed (and factually troubled) episodes with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s (once popular/still popular? in grade school lessons) 1858 poem, “The Courtship of Miles Standish” which also romanticizes and fudges a lot of Puritan facts: “In other words, Americans have learned our history from exaggerated popular art for as long as anyone can remember. Revolutionary War soldiers were probably singing fun but inaccurate folk songs about those silly Puritans to warm themselves by the fire at Valley Forge” (21).
Historical characters such as John Winthrop, John Cotton, Anne Hutchinson, and Roger Williams are brought to life in all of their complexities. Vowell also traces the roots of the now popular sound bite of America being a “shining city on a hill” to John Winthrop’s “A Model of Christian Charity”—a sermon he delivered that caused no stir among its listeners. Why? Because it was old news for Puritans; they had heard all that stuff before. Vowell examines the messages in the sermon and how (for the most part) revolutionary and wonderful she finds them and how the sermon has been the foundation for other speakers (Martin Luther King, Jr.) and perverted by politicians (specifically Ronald Reagan, who added “shining” to the phrase).
This is a relatively short book (my paperback edition is under 250 pages), but Vowell packs in a lot of historical details and analyses of those details. She traces the roots of the Pequot Massacre by Massachusetts Bay Puritans and the Narragansett Native Americans. While the Narragansett teamed up with the English to basically save themselves, the Puritans murdered and burned alive nearly 700 hundred people of the Pequot tribe for less than noble reasons: “The Pequot War is a pure war. And by pure I don’t mean good. I mean it is war straight up, a war set off by murder and vengeance and fueled by misunderstanding, jealousy, hatred, stupidity, racism, lust for power, lust for land, and, most of all, greed” (166). Certainly the Narragansett don’t come off looking great for their part in the war, but when they saw the cruelty and savagery of the Englishmen, they called it evil while the Puritans congratulated themselves on ridding themselves of the savages, justified their actions through various Biblical verses and sold off remaining Pequot to Bermuda as slaves.
The Wordy Shipmates is an excellent, focused examination of the Massachusetts Bay Colony Puritans. Vowell’s commentary is at turns funny and sarcastic and personal and she makes it clear why their history still impacts—and is important to—our present. She wraps up the book by discussing the presidential inauguration speech of John F. Kennedy. He quotes from Winthrop’s “A Model of Christian Charity,” a fact that Vowell finds amusing because Winthrop (as did all Puritans) regarded Catholics as essentially agents of Satan. She goes on to say about his speech: “Nowadays, I cannot imagine an American from Massachusetts could get elected president period [due to its liberalism], much less a Harvard grad prone to elitist quotations from ancient Greece” (246). She’s so right about that—and this book was published in 2008, pre-dating our current American President of Stupidity. I highly recommend this book if you enjoy your history with a side of chatty commentary.
Vowell’s book covers the founding of New England by the Puritans of the ship Arbella, not the famous Mayflower. There are theological differences between them that may seem slight to modern readers, but were a big deal to them. The Plymouth (Mayflower) colonists were Separatists. The Massachusetts Bay colonists were not. Vowell amusingly warns that “readers who squirm at microscopic theological differences might be unsuited to read a book about seventeenth-century Christians. Or, for that matter, a newspaper” (5). If you are okay with that insult and not squirming, Vowell goes on to explain the theological differences—basically, it goes back the Reformation and the King Henry VIII’s break with the Pope. The newly created Protestants liked the Church of England until they noticed it still had many of the trappings of Catholicism (popery): same church hierarchy, same Latin sermons, same work outfit (oh, those dastardly vestments!), same too-easily-achieved salvation. Puritans didn’t want a fancy church, and they wanted getting into heaven to be really hard…and extremely selective. Puritans believed that salvation is predetermined by God, and no amount of faith or good works will allow entry. So Puritans who completely revolted against the Church of England called themselves Separatists and sailed away on the Mayflower. Those who wanted to keep ties to the C of E because they thought they could reform it from the inside out called themselves Nonseparatists and sailed away on the Arbella. The Wordy Shipmates follows the journey of the Nonseparatists Massachusetts Bay colony.
I like Vowell’s prose because while it’s clear she is very intelligent and researches the hell out of her subjects, she is chatty and funny. She discusses how, as a child, she learned about American history via tv sitcoms. Specifically, The Brady Bunch and Happy Days. She compares those Puritan-themed (and factually troubled) episodes with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s (once popular/still popular? in grade school lessons) 1858 poem, “The Courtship of Miles Standish” which also romanticizes and fudges a lot of Puritan facts: “In other words, Americans have learned our history from exaggerated popular art for as long as anyone can remember. Revolutionary War soldiers were probably singing fun but inaccurate folk songs about those silly Puritans to warm themselves by the fire at Valley Forge” (21).
Historical characters such as John Winthrop, John Cotton, Anne Hutchinson, and Roger Williams are brought to life in all of their complexities. Vowell also traces the roots of the now popular sound bite of America being a “shining city on a hill” to John Winthrop’s “A Model of Christian Charity”—a sermon he delivered that caused no stir among its listeners. Why? Because it was old news for Puritans; they had heard all that stuff before. Vowell examines the messages in the sermon and how (for the most part) revolutionary and wonderful she finds them and how the sermon has been the foundation for other speakers (Martin Luther King, Jr.) and perverted by politicians (specifically Ronald Reagan, who added “shining” to the phrase).
This is a relatively short book (my paperback edition is under 250 pages), but Vowell packs in a lot of historical details and analyses of those details. She traces the roots of the Pequot Massacre by Massachusetts Bay Puritans and the Narragansett Native Americans. While the Narragansett teamed up with the English to basically save themselves, the Puritans murdered and burned alive nearly 700 hundred people of the Pequot tribe for less than noble reasons: “The Pequot War is a pure war. And by pure I don’t mean good. I mean it is war straight up, a war set off by murder and vengeance and fueled by misunderstanding, jealousy, hatred, stupidity, racism, lust for power, lust for land, and, most of all, greed” (166). Certainly the Narragansett don’t come off looking great for their part in the war, but when they saw the cruelty and savagery of the Englishmen, they called it evil while the Puritans congratulated themselves on ridding themselves of the savages, justified their actions through various Biblical verses and sold off remaining Pequot to Bermuda as slaves.
The Wordy Shipmates is an excellent, focused examination of the Massachusetts Bay Colony Puritans. Vowell’s commentary is at turns funny and sarcastic and personal and she makes it clear why their history still impacts—and is important to—our present. She wraps up the book by discussing the presidential inauguration speech of John F. Kennedy. He quotes from Winthrop’s “A Model of Christian Charity,” a fact that Vowell finds amusing because Winthrop (as did all Puritans) regarded Catholics as essentially agents of Satan. She goes on to say about his speech: “Nowadays, I cannot imagine an American from Massachusetts could get elected president period [due to its liberalism], much less a Harvard grad prone to elitist quotations from ancient Greece” (246). She’s so right about that—and this book was published in 2008, pre-dating our current American President of Stupidity. I highly recommend this book if you enjoy your history with a side of chatty commentary.
May 29, 2016
2 stars - Meh. Just ok.
I jumped into this book with hopes it would enhance my recent trip to Boston and the surrounding New England area. Sadly, this was not nearly as interesting as I thought it would be, and as I trudged through it I kept wondering when the fascinating things would appear.
This was the second book I have read by Vowell and this one came across as more amateurish in writing quality. Her professionalism as an author has grown noticeably in the nine years between this book and, Lafayette in the Somewhat United States. A heavy handed editor would have gone a long way with improving this one, by cutting out most of the distracting, unrelated injections and excessive mundane details.
-------------------------------------------
Favorite Quote: Behind every bad law, a deep fear.
First Sentence: The only thing more dangerous than an idea is a belief.
I jumped into this book with hopes it would enhance my recent trip to Boston and the surrounding New England area. Sadly, this was not nearly as interesting as I thought it would be, and as I trudged through it I kept wondering when the fascinating things would appear.
This was the second book I have read by Vowell and this one came across as more amateurish in writing quality. Her professionalism as an author has grown noticeably in the nine years between this book and, Lafayette in the Somewhat United States. A heavy handed editor would have gone a long way with improving this one, by cutting out most of the distracting, unrelated injections and excessive mundane details.
-------------------------------------------
Favorite Quote: Behind every bad law, a deep fear.
First Sentence: The only thing more dangerous than an idea is a belief.
July 19, 2015
I loved this book.
Ok, so I love the complex, intensely intellectual, weird world of 17th century English Protestantism, when a whole bunch of ideas about the way the world did work and should work and could work were mixed in with intense biblical study and result was this passionate textual arguing and synthesising a set of sometimes strange and sometimes brilliant ideas. It was the discovery of this world, through Christopher Hill's The World Turned Upside Down, that gave me a lifelong interest in faith and ideas.
But I knew nothing at all coming in about New England, beyond a cursory compulsory-for-my-degree study of Salem. I'd been dimly aware that some of the players in the English theological curves and turns disappeared to the New World at points in the narrative, and I had a basic handle on manifest-destiny, city-on-a-hill, but I'd never cared to follow further.
So the book, clearly intended for an audience familiar with New England's founding myths but not with the theology, felt a bit upside down at times. I found myself stopping to look up x or y once or twice a chapter, leading to a nice spin-off effect for the reading.
What I really loved though was Vowell's capacity to link this to living history, to draw the dots through the ages to how our past, and the ideas of our past in particular, shape who we are now. How a speech on a freezing pier leads us to Vietnam.
I also admit to adoring the unabashed intellectualism of the book - not the pretentious, deliberately-obscure-verbosity-heavy style that passes for it - but the passion for delving deep, for being an expert, for giving a shit about what actually happenned - that is so very out of style now, but Vowell's capacity to coat it with humour make it palatable. I haven't read much more of Vowell's work, but if the tone is always lighter, I'm not sure I would love it as much. It takes courage to care and to think, and I want more, not less, in my readable history.
Ok, so I love the complex, intensely intellectual, weird world of 17th century English Protestantism, when a whole bunch of ideas about the way the world did work and should work and could work were mixed in with intense biblical study and result was this passionate textual arguing and synthesising a set of sometimes strange and sometimes brilliant ideas. It was the discovery of this world, through Christopher Hill's The World Turned Upside Down, that gave me a lifelong interest in faith and ideas.
But I knew nothing at all coming in about New England, beyond a cursory compulsory-for-my-degree study of Salem. I'd been dimly aware that some of the players in the English theological curves and turns disappeared to the New World at points in the narrative, and I had a basic handle on manifest-destiny, city-on-a-hill, but I'd never cared to follow further.
So the book, clearly intended for an audience familiar with New England's founding myths but not with the theology, felt a bit upside down at times. I found myself stopping to look up x or y once or twice a chapter, leading to a nice spin-off effect for the reading.
What I really loved though was Vowell's capacity to link this to living history, to draw the dots through the ages to how our past, and the ideas of our past in particular, shape who we are now. How a speech on a freezing pier leads us to Vietnam.
I also admit to adoring the unabashed intellectualism of the book - not the pretentious, deliberately-obscure-verbosity-heavy style that passes for it - but the passion for delving deep, for being an expert, for giving a shit about what actually happenned - that is so very out of style now, but Vowell's capacity to coat it with humour make it palatable. I haven't read much more of Vowell's work, but if the tone is always lighter, I'm not sure I would love it as much. It takes courage to care and to think, and I want more, not less, in my readable history.
December 15, 2008
You never really learn much about the history of the American colonies post-thanksgiving through pre-Salem witch trials. This book fills that gap. I think the most provocative thing about this book is how puritan culture still permeates through-out the American Psyche to this day. Much of American attitudes and culture were all founded upon the principles that governed the lives of those original founders. This influence can be felt in how Americans view many issues ranging from gay marriage to US Foreign Policy. I have also come to the personal conclusion that these original religious pilgrims are the source of Americans' obsession with everything in life being a drama. With their poetic biblical prose of destruction, retribution, justice and redemption it is no wonder our News Media has continued this long tradition of fear-mongering. It is both profitable and a powerful way to influence others when reasoning or logic fail you.
November 15, 2008
In The Wordy Shipmates Ms. Vowell half, or maybe three-quarters, succeeds with the transformation from memoirist with a history bend to a historian who occasionally injects her own story into the text. Vowell comes off like a particularly accessible high school teacher giving a series of lectures on early American history. She works hard to enliven the past and connect the implications to the modern world. Her passion for the subject is apparent, but I could have used more conventional historical text organization, e.g. chapters, a glossary of names, etc. There were times when I had a hard time keeping the narrative thread straight. Still, I liked the book, and I think Vowell has a bright future with this type of approach...her books have never let me down.
January 2, 2015
"Let us thank God for having given us such [Puritan] ancestors; and let each successive generation thank Him, not less fervently, for being one step further from them in the march of ages."
- Hawthorne, of all people (quoted on p. 58)
This book is light. It's pleasantly chatty and engaging, but it's pop history at its poppiest. It suffers in comparison to Nathaniel Philbrick, whose Mayflower picks up at the exact moment Wordy Shipmates leaves off; Philbrick isn't as easy to read, but his history is much more clearly laid out.
(It also suffers in comparison to Tony Horwitz, who - in books like A Voyage Long and Strange - combines Vowell's snappy style with Philbrick's careful history.)
Vowell goes off on many, many tangents about things like Reagan and 9/11; I already know both those things sucked. There's a lot about a trip she took with her nephew; I get the impression that's what she does, and it's what Horwitz does too (I wonder if I'd be as pleased with him now as I was a couple of years ago?), but it didn't work for me here. I'm interested in this part of history, and I'm fascinated by her idea to look at Puritans through their literature - which is sermons, because that's all they wrote - because I took a class on early American lit in college that included many of these sermons. They were boring then, and Vowell does a passable job of interesting me in them more...but not quite as good a job as I'd hoped. I wanted more of that, and less travelogue.
I'm pretty sure Vowell's point is to reclaim Puritans for liberals; she disparages Reagan's frequent allusions to them, saying he totally missed the point. The Puritans were a more literate, and tolerant, society than we give them credit for. I don't think she really proves that point, though; in the end, I think the Puritans basically were intolerant assholes, and you can't do much to whitewash it.
I sound pretty down on this book, but I gave it three stars. If you like your history very light and easy, you could do worse than this book. It just didn't leave a hell of an impression.
- Hawthorne, of all people (quoted on p. 58)
This book is light. It's pleasantly chatty and engaging, but it's pop history at its poppiest. It suffers in comparison to Nathaniel Philbrick, whose Mayflower picks up at the exact moment Wordy Shipmates leaves off; Philbrick isn't as easy to read, but his history is much more clearly laid out.
(It also suffers in comparison to Tony Horwitz, who - in books like A Voyage Long and Strange - combines Vowell's snappy style with Philbrick's careful history.)
Vowell goes off on many, many tangents about things like Reagan and 9/11; I already know both those things sucked. There's a lot about a trip she took with her nephew; I get the impression that's what she does, and it's what Horwitz does too (I wonder if I'd be as pleased with him now as I was a couple of years ago?), but it didn't work for me here. I'm interested in this part of history, and I'm fascinated by her idea to look at Puritans through their literature - which is sermons, because that's all they wrote - because I took a class on early American lit in college that included many of these sermons. They were boring then, and Vowell does a passable job of interesting me in them more...but not quite as good a job as I'd hoped. I wanted more of that, and less travelogue.
I'm pretty sure Vowell's point is to reclaim Puritans for liberals; she disparages Reagan's frequent allusions to them, saying he totally missed the point. The Puritans were a more literate, and tolerant, society than we give them credit for. I don't think she really proves that point, though; in the end, I think the Puritans basically were intolerant assholes, and you can't do much to whitewash it.
I sound pretty down on this book, but I gave it three stars. If you like your history very light and easy, you could do worse than this book. It just didn't leave a hell of an impression.
November 15, 2008
my one problem with this book was this: considering that i could "listen" to sarah vowell all day long, the fact that she included no chapter breaks meant that i looked up from this book to realize that i hadn't gotten out of bed yet, and that the day had driven headlong into what could almost be described as evening. heavy price to pay for a few pages over coffee.
and i suppose that, really, that is no problem at all; except that the lack of chapters also seemed, in this case, to equal a lack of overbearing structure to the tale she was telling; which, like the above "complaint," and the reason why i use the word "overbearing," is really not so bad, either. the tale of the massachusetts bay colony swerves from the sailing of ships from britain to the iraq war to the protestant reformation to roger williams back to the founding of the massachusetts bay colony. and back to the iraq war. and then on from there. and back, and on.
i guess i am trying to say that i really enjoyed this book, and its historical nerdiness, and all that ms. vowell does in the name of history and nerds and nerdy historians and historical nerds. i recommend it to everyone and their moms (as all the people who are buying it in our store seem to be buying it for their moms).
so, yeah.
and i suppose that, really, that is no problem at all; except that the lack of chapters also seemed, in this case, to equal a lack of overbearing structure to the tale she was telling; which, like the above "complaint," and the reason why i use the word "overbearing," is really not so bad, either. the tale of the massachusetts bay colony swerves from the sailing of ships from britain to the iraq war to the protestant reformation to roger williams back to the founding of the massachusetts bay colony. and back to the iraq war. and then on from there. and back, and on.
i guess i am trying to say that i really enjoyed this book, and its historical nerdiness, and all that ms. vowell does in the name of history and nerds and nerdy historians and historical nerds. i recommend it to everyone and their moms (as all the people who are buying it in our store seem to be buying it for their moms).
so, yeah.
January 27, 2009
The only Sarah Vowell I've ever "read," was/is _Take the Cannoli_. All my other exposure to her writing has been via audio: _Assassination Vacation_, _The Partly Cloudy Patriot_, and now _The Wordy Shipmates_. I have to admit, sadly, that I was let down. Generally the audio versions of her books are so good. They feature readers like Conan O'Brien, Jon Stewart, and (my personal hero) David Cross. And while the audio version for "Shipmates" does feature the likes of Bill Hader, John Hodgman, and John Oliver, the only voice I ever heard/recognized was Campbell Scott's, who, you know, isn't chopped liver exactly BUT... I mean, I liked "Singles" and all, but that was what--15 years ago? Despite all that, his voice is pretty monotone, and has an overwhelming soothing effect. I can't tell you how many times I fell asleep listening to this book. I even fell asleep listening to this at work once! I tried, I really did try, to finish this. I must've listened to it for 40 hours. I kept rewinding (or whatever it is we call that now that everything's digital), but I just couldn't stay interested. I would like to point out, however, that the two stars are not for the text itself, but for the audio version. I am thinking this might be better in book form. I do love Sarah Vowell's passion for her subject and her ability to impart her nerdiness for history in a way that's quirky and funny and relevant and interesting (although the part where she talks about Americans getting their history from 70s TV sitcoms went on a bit too long for me), and she's obviously done her research-- like when she talks about how Reagan adopted Winthrop's "City Upon a Hill" speech as his own--hold on, this was my favorite so I'll copy the highlights for you:
- In 1983, the official unemployment rate in America hit 11.5 million. Reagan, interviewed on Good Morning America, said that homeless people who slept on grates were "Homeless, you might say, by choice."
- In 1987 Reagan went on television to apologize for Iran-Contra. He said "A few months ago- I told the American People I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and evidence tell me it's not."
-In 1989 he gave his fairwell address (what Vowell refers to as a "self-congratulatory benediction") and in his speech he referred to John Winthrop as an "early freedom fighter."
To this Vowell responds
I imagine that the further you get in to the text, the more good stuff like this you'll find. I'd also like to add that Vowell's reverence and respect for much of the early religious writing associated with the Puritans helped me look at those texts through a strictly literary lens and not, as an Atheist, be so offended by the their countless references, thanks, and praises to god. All I can say at this point is, the jury's still out on the book, but, unfortunately, I have to give two big fat thumbs down to the audio version.
- In 1983, the official unemployment rate in America hit 11.5 million. Reagan, interviewed on Good Morning America, said that homeless people who slept on grates were "Homeless, you might say, by choice."
- In 1987 Reagan went on television to apologize for Iran-Contra. He said "A few months ago- I told the American People I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and evidence tell me it's not."
-In 1989 he gave his fairwell address (what Vowell refers to as a "self-congratulatory benediction") and in his speech he referred to John Winthrop as an "early freedom fighter."
I've spoke of the shining city all my political life," he said "but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds, living in harmony and peace. A city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls--the walls had doors, and the doors were open to anyone with the will and heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still. And how stands the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was eight years ago. But more than that-- after 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady not matter what storm.
To this Vowell responds
My heart told me that wasn't true. The facts and evidence also told me that wasn't true. Remember Winthrop's city, where 'The rich and mighty should not eat up the poor.'? Where 'If thy brother be in want and thou canst help him, if thou lovest God, thou must help him.'? President Reagan did not utter the word AIDS in public until more than 20,000 people had died from the disease. His appointed officials embezzled funds ear-marked for cleaning up toxic waste sites and gave the money to Republican candidates. He cut school lunch programs for needy children. He fired 11,345 striking air traffic controllers which, according to the 'Village Voice,' led to 253 deaths due to controller errors over the next ten years. He cut the budget for the department of housing and urban development from $32 billion in 1981 to $7.5 billion in 1988. Two million Americans were homeless by 1989. The only Federal department whose budget was not cut, but increased, was the Department of Defense, that was because the President's white whale was the Soviet Union. Being ready and able to bomb the hell out of the "Evil Empire" was the nation's top priority, and if that meant thousands of poor kids had to skip lunch, or sleep in cars in poison neighborhoods, so be it.
I imagine that the further you get in to the text, the more good stuff like this you'll find. I'd also like to add that Vowell's reverence and respect for much of the early religious writing associated with the Puritans helped me look at those texts through a strictly literary lens and not, as an Atheist, be so offended by the their countless references, thanks, and praises to god. All I can say at this point is, the jury's still out on the book, but, unfortunately, I have to give two big fat thumbs down to the audio version.
November 14, 2008
I've greatly enjoyed all of Vowell's books previous to The Wordy Shipmates.
That first sentence is probably not a ringing endorsement for book, I know. Truth be told, there were aspects of Shipmates I enjoyed very much. The story of the Puritans coming to the New World has always been an interesting one to me, especially in light of the way I was taught the story versus The Way Things Actually Were. Vowell does a nice job connecting the Puritans struggle and beliefs with America today, with pit stops along the way examining some of the more interesting members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Certainly you won't find a better book on Anne Hutchinson this year.
So why wasn't I crazy about this book? I suppose, of all of Vowell's books, this one is the most dry. There's an essence of "just the facts" that The Wordy Shipmates is imbued with that is just fine for a history book. I can't fault it for that. I did miss a lot of the snarky personal response that Vowell usually injects her book with. It's here, it's just not as omnipresent as it was in Assassination Vacation and other previous works.
For example, I had no problem listing Assassination Vacation under the tag "memoir" here on GoodReads. I really don't think I can do the same thing with this one. That's certainly not a bad thing, just not what I was expecting.
In short, it's a fine history book but those looking for the same experience they had with her earlier works may find this lacking.
That first sentence is probably not a ringing endorsement for book, I know. Truth be told, there were aspects of Shipmates I enjoyed very much. The story of the Puritans coming to the New World has always been an interesting one to me, especially in light of the way I was taught the story versus The Way Things Actually Were. Vowell does a nice job connecting the Puritans struggle and beliefs with America today, with pit stops along the way examining some of the more interesting members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Certainly you won't find a better book on Anne Hutchinson this year.
So why wasn't I crazy about this book? I suppose, of all of Vowell's books, this one is the most dry. There's an essence of "just the facts" that The Wordy Shipmates is imbued with that is just fine for a history book. I can't fault it for that. I did miss a lot of the snarky personal response that Vowell usually injects her book with. It's here, it's just not as omnipresent as it was in Assassination Vacation and other previous works.
For example, I had no problem listing Assassination Vacation under the tag "memoir" here on GoodReads. I really don't think I can do the same thing with this one. That's certainly not a bad thing, just not what I was expecting.
In short, it's a fine history book but those looking for the same experience they had with her earlier works may find this lacking.
March 4, 2016
This is a story of pilgrims. Specifically, the brave and pious souls who came over on Arbella in 1630 and started a Massachusetts Bay Colony. It isn't quite the happy Thanksgiving tale promulgated later on by the popular opinion, but a real story of the stubborn, fortitudinous (nice, always wanted to use it in a sentence), well intentioned, oftentimes misguided, striving bunch of individuals who pursued a dream. This is precisely how I like my history, told by a clever erudite with a great sense of humor. Although this isn't quite the sort of history I like. Proud autodidactic armchair historian taking on American history is like a cinema lover who only watched movies of the last decade or a serious conversationalist who only converses with youngsters....which is to say not that interesting in the grand scheme of things. Vowell makes it interesting, though, though well thought out connections to European history of the time and current US politics, particularly the latter, since the pilgrim past is never really dead, but instead continues to make appearances as if it was once interred in the ancient indian burial...oh wait, it was. Vowell is great, unapologetically smart in times of rampant anti intellectualism, opinionated, an astute observer/thinker, funny, a real pleasure to read. I only wish she's turn her considerable awesomeness to other places and other (older) times. Recommended.
August 3, 2017
Whenever I read Sarah Vowell, I’m always reminded of my own extremely random fascination with all things obscure that perhaps don’t deserve to be. Vowell has written books about presidential assassinations (one of my favorite books!), Lafayette during the revolutionary war, and here about the the first settlers to Massachusetts.
But like all Sarah Vowell books, this is not straightforward history. Instead she focuses on two groups the pilgrims that arrived on Plymouth Rock in 1620, and the settlers who founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The former ostensibly led by John Winthrop, the latter by Roger Williams, the founding of these colonies was filled with bickering, religious zealotry, the massacre of native peoples, and lots and lots and lots of colourful characters. Perhaps colourful isn’t an adjective that most people today would use to describe the Pilgrims but as Vowell shows, they were anything but dull.
Take the aforementioned Winthrop who when not talking about brotherhood and togetherness was as a magistrate busy banishing and cutting off the ears of a man who was “upsetting the peace”. That he was criticized for being too lenient in waiting to banish him until it wasn’t freezing outside, gives you a general idea of where these people were at.
Or Anne Hutchinson who Vowell credits for good and bad, as starting the trend toward the concept of God being a personal thing rather than something we can only learn from pastors (the idea of not trusting educated people in their particular fields Vowell argues would have lasting consequences in the form of today’s seeming scorn for professionals in government) . Needless to say, not a popular concept considering that the people making the laws at the time were well......pastors. There is also the breathtaking slaughter of native peoples with equally astounding proclamations of joy from the people perpetrating said slaughter. Take for example Vowell writing about John Mason celebrating soon after burning 700 Pequot men, women and children alive:
“Mason is triumphant. After all, this is the will of a righteous God. He praises the Lord for “burning them up in the fire of his wrath, and dunging the ground with their flesh: It is the Lord’s doings, and it is marvelous in our eyes!” That might be the creepiest exclamation point in American literature. No, wait―it’s this one: “Thus did the Lord judge among the heathen, filling the place with dead bodies!”
Yeah, there was a lot of this.
For me, truly great history writing is when you pick up a book wanting to learn more about a particular topic but by the time you put it down, you’ve been led down ten new paths to study. Sarah Vowell’s books always do this for me and this wonderful book is no exception.
But like all Sarah Vowell books, this is not straightforward history. Instead she focuses on two groups the pilgrims that arrived on Plymouth Rock in 1620, and the settlers who founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The former ostensibly led by John Winthrop, the latter by Roger Williams, the founding of these colonies was filled with bickering, religious zealotry, the massacre of native peoples, and lots and lots and lots of colourful characters. Perhaps colourful isn’t an adjective that most people today would use to describe the Pilgrims but as Vowell shows, they were anything but dull.
Take the aforementioned Winthrop who when not talking about brotherhood and togetherness was as a magistrate busy banishing and cutting off the ears of a man who was “upsetting the peace”. That he was criticized for being too lenient in waiting to banish him until it wasn’t freezing outside, gives you a general idea of where these people were at.
Or Anne Hutchinson who Vowell credits for good and bad, as starting the trend toward the concept of God being a personal thing rather than something we can only learn from pastors (the idea of not trusting educated people in their particular fields Vowell argues would have lasting consequences in the form of today’s seeming scorn for professionals in government) . Needless to say, not a popular concept considering that the people making the laws at the time were well......pastors. There is also the breathtaking slaughter of native peoples with equally astounding proclamations of joy from the people perpetrating said slaughter. Take for example Vowell writing about John Mason celebrating soon after burning 700 Pequot men, women and children alive:
“Mason is triumphant. After all, this is the will of a righteous God. He praises the Lord for “burning them up in the fire of his wrath, and dunging the ground with their flesh: It is the Lord’s doings, and it is marvelous in our eyes!” That might be the creepiest exclamation point in American literature. No, wait―it’s this one: “Thus did the Lord judge among the heathen, filling the place with dead bodies!”
Yeah, there was a lot of this.
For me, truly great history writing is when you pick up a book wanting to learn more about a particular topic but by the time you put it down, you’ve been led down ten new paths to study. Sarah Vowell’s books always do this for me and this wonderful book is no exception.
April 13, 2012
This book (well-praised on NPR a few years back) was intended to be a wry segue to my having read David Mitchell's maritime-themed novel "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet". Sadly, this was a bad choice to read right after that near-masterpiece.
I appreciate Sarah Vowell's enthusiasm in "The Wordy Shipmates", and really like the cover and title. And that's about it. I've got a laundry list of gripes about this historical exploration/opinion piece regarding the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the early-to-mid 1600s but I'll just list a few:
1. It's unclear what Ms Vowell is trying to write about. Is it a history textbook? A think piece? An op-ed column? Ms. Vowel takes the really sometimes dry and stuffy Puritanism topic, writes about its foundation, its key players, its infinitesimal details, then at random gums up the works with commentary that's at times hard to discern what is fact and what is opinion.
2. Ms. Vowell's effort is totally disorganized.. One paragraph may start with historical data, then with a dubious, jerky-jerky segue will start talking about 9/11 or the Foxwoods Casino, then start talking about a completely different topic unrelated to the first. A lazy, uninspired editing job leads to a book not worth reading,
3. Ms. Vowell, when trying to prove a point, "speaks from both sides of her mouth" and ends up proving nothing.. A prime example is her treatment of principals John Winthrop and Roger Williams. One paragraph she may extol one of their virtues (like, for instance with Williams, being a firm proponent of church and state and a rallier for freedom of religious persecution) then, perhaps, liken their actions to those of someone of recent history (like, say Martin Luther King [who she admires] or Ronald Reagan [who she evidently doesn't]), then immediately excoriate them a paragraph later (like, again with Williams, for his ill-intentioned interactions with non-Puritans and Native Americans).
4. Snarky commentary and historical fact just doesn't coexist well on the page. Unless it's an opinion piece (or anything delivered by snark-meisters like Jon Stewart or Bill Maher) then let the snark rip. (again, per point #1, it's not entirely clear what Ms. Vowell's trying to write here). And if you're gonna be snarky, please at least be funny. Ms, Vowell more often than not just isn't very funny; at best she comes off as an overly glib, jaded smartass Junior College professor, trying to stir life into a bored class (and failing).
Again, I do appreciate her efforts in trying to breathe life in an under-appreciated chapter in US history (and, heck, for the most part, I'm pretty much totally aligned with her left-leaning political stance, which, when she actually succeeded in driving home a point, was like preaching to the choir.) The old adage of "those ignoring history are doomed to repeat it" is apt, and important lessons can certainly be gleaned from the foibles of our past. But if one endeavors to instruct, or at least present a different way we look at things (as I suspect is Ms Vowell's motive for writing this) then one best have an organized lesson plan.
I appreciate Sarah Vowell's enthusiasm in "The Wordy Shipmates", and really like the cover and title. And that's about it. I've got a laundry list of gripes about this historical exploration/opinion piece regarding the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the early-to-mid 1600s but I'll just list a few:
1. It's unclear what Ms Vowell is trying to write about. Is it a history textbook? A think piece? An op-ed column? Ms. Vowel takes the really sometimes dry and stuffy Puritanism topic, writes about its foundation, its key players, its infinitesimal details, then at random gums up the works with commentary that's at times hard to discern what is fact and what is opinion.
2. Ms. Vowell's effort is totally disorganized.. One paragraph may start with historical data, then with a dubious, jerky-jerky segue will start talking about 9/11 or the Foxwoods Casino, then start talking about a completely different topic unrelated to the first. A lazy, uninspired editing job leads to a book not worth reading,
3. Ms. Vowell, when trying to prove a point, "speaks from both sides of her mouth" and ends up proving nothing.. A prime example is her treatment of principals John Winthrop and Roger Williams. One paragraph she may extol one of their virtues (like, for instance with Williams, being a firm proponent of church and state and a rallier for freedom of religious persecution) then, perhaps, liken their actions to those of someone of recent history (like, say Martin Luther King [who she admires] or Ronald Reagan [who she evidently doesn't]), then immediately excoriate them a paragraph later (like, again with Williams, for his ill-intentioned interactions with non-Puritans and Native Americans).
4. Snarky commentary and historical fact just doesn't coexist well on the page. Unless it's an opinion piece (or anything delivered by snark-meisters like Jon Stewart or Bill Maher) then let the snark rip. (again, per point #1, it's not entirely clear what Ms. Vowell's trying to write here). And if you're gonna be snarky, please at least be funny. Ms, Vowell more often than not just isn't very funny; at best she comes off as an overly glib, jaded smartass Junior College professor, trying to stir life into a bored class (and failing).
Again, I do appreciate her efforts in trying to breathe life in an under-appreciated chapter in US history (and, heck, for the most part, I'm pretty much totally aligned with her left-leaning political stance, which, when she actually succeeded in driving home a point, was like preaching to the choir.) The old adage of "those ignoring history are doomed to repeat it" is apt, and important lessons can certainly be gleaned from the foibles of our past. But if one endeavors to instruct, or at least present a different way we look at things (as I suspect is Ms Vowell's motive for writing this) then one best have an organized lesson plan.
August 8, 2011
For me, this book was really a 4.5, but I think that you really have to be interested in early American history to be as entralled with this book as much as I was. To hear conservative social commentators tell it, the United States is still "the city upon a hill" of John Winthrop. But, as Sarah Vowell discovers in The Wordy Shipmates, Puritans were very different from the impression that contemporary society has created. While being claimed by Fundamentalists of the Religious Right, Vowell points out that "the Puritans live and worship within a specific subset of the Protestant Reformation--Calvinism" with its emphasis on predestination and limited atonement. She points out that although the King James Bible was available to them, it was the Geneva Bible that the Puritans brought with them to the New World. She also points out that one of the problems that the Puritan leaders had with Anne Hutchinson was that her belief that the "the Holy Ghost living inside a believer was dangerously close to a belief in immediate personal revelation." Puritans were convinced that God's will could only be discovered through the Bible as understood and interpreted by ordained ministers--the teacher and the pastor, announced in mandatory church services. One of my favorite parts of the book was the relationship between John Winthrop and Roger Williams. Williams was ultimately banished from Massachusetts Bay, but he and Winthrop remained religious opponents, but personal friends to the end of Winthrop's life. Williams was banished from the colony because of his insistence on the separation of church and state (in fact, he was the first to use that phrase). In his words, Williams believed that the government of Massachusetts Bay "opened a gap in the hedge or wall of separation bwtween the garden of the Church and the wilderness of the world" and he devoted his life to keeping government out of the church--not the church out of government. Williams believed that governments should allow all forms of religions, including in his words "the most paganist, Jewish, Turkish (Islamic) or Antichristian consciences." Vowell links recent events in the United States with the Puritan past, often with entertaining results, sometimes with more painful results. Vowell also reminds the reader that Perry Miller, a 20th century Harvard professor, argued that "having respect for the Puritans is not the same thing as beieving in them. An interesting thought. Oh by the way, Puritan descendants are all around us--the 2004 presidential debates were between John Winthrop's descendant, John Kerry, and a great-something-grandson of Anne Hutchinson, George W. Bush.
March 12, 2009
This is NOT as easy-reading as Sarah Vowell's other books. Instead of having multiple topics, Sarah focuses on just one, the Massachusetts Bay pilgrims, who came after the more famous Plymouth Rock ones.
She digs into this dry subject, and while managing to make her usual wry observations, reading quotations from Governor Winthrop and other colonists isn't as fast going as her usual conversational style.
The topics are serious stuff - the colony's precarious independent rule as granted by the charter from England, relations with the local tribes and the issue of was it really England's land to bequeath, and questions of salvation through grace rather than works.
Overarching all this is the idea of the colony being a "city on a hill", setting an example for the rest of the world.
There was a lot to think about, and a lot that is reflected in our current political culture. Fascinating stuff, but the combination of history and philosophy make for slow going.
Recommended for quirky history buffs.
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Okay, I'm back to reading this book, and already I can tell I'm more in the mood. It helps that I just went to see Sarah Vowell doing readings from this book and some of her other material last weekend. Wow, I did NOT know that about stuff about Oneida teapots having an origin in a New England free love cult!
This is now my bus book.
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I just couldn't find the dedicated time I wanted to read this, and then I had to return it to the library. I'm asking for it for Christmas. And I WILL read it.
I did have a little trouble with the format - I wanted paragraphs, not just little breaks between passages.
And I expected it to be like Sarah's other books, with more of her own life mixed in. But this book (at least, what I read of it) didn't stray much from the subject of the pilgrims in question.
But now that I know what to expect, I think I'll enjoy it when I finally DO get around to reading the whole thing.
She digs into this dry subject, and while managing to make her usual wry observations, reading quotations from Governor Winthrop and other colonists isn't as fast going as her usual conversational style.
The topics are serious stuff - the colony's precarious independent rule as granted by the charter from England, relations with the local tribes and the issue of was it really England's land to bequeath, and questions of salvation through grace rather than works.
Overarching all this is the idea of the colony being a "city on a hill", setting an example for the rest of the world.
There was a lot to think about, and a lot that is reflected in our current political culture. Fascinating stuff, but the combination of history and philosophy make for slow going.
Recommended for quirky history buffs.
************************************
Okay, I'm back to reading this book, and already I can tell I'm more in the mood. It helps that I just went to see Sarah Vowell doing readings from this book and some of her other material last weekend. Wow, I did NOT know that about stuff about Oneida teapots having an origin in a New England free love cult!
This is now my bus book.
*************************************************
I just couldn't find the dedicated time I wanted to read this, and then I had to return it to the library. I'm asking for it for Christmas. And I WILL read it.
I did have a little trouble with the format - I wanted paragraphs, not just little breaks between passages.
And I expected it to be like Sarah's other books, with more of her own life mixed in. But this book (at least, what I read of it) didn't stray much from the subject of the pilgrims in question.
But now that I know what to expect, I think I'll enjoy it when I finally DO get around to reading the whole thing.
January 10, 2009
Vowell's book rates as anecdotal pop history at its most average. I'll give her credit, she tries pretty hard to make this - the story of the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony - appeal to a wide audience. There's a good deal of clever wordplay and an engaging, 'gee isn't that strange' sense of humor; and she makes a point of drawing lots of parallels to our present-day social and political idiosyncrasies, some of which are interesting. But I was constantly annoyed that Vowell doesn't try to make more of a general point about the Puritans, or about their impact on modern-day America. Why does it matter that these shipmates were "wordy"? It seems like she's telling a bunch of loosely connected stories about Puritans merely to set up a string of one-liners. And by the middle of the book, the sheer volume of those one-liners leave the reader feeling kind of shallow for reading them. The book also lacks any formal organization - there are no chapters, no themes, no section breaks; the book even defies a strict chronology. It proceeds only in the direction that Vowell chooses to take it, without guiding its readers along, which only made me more perplexed as to why I should care about any of this at all.
March 15, 2009
You may only know Sarah Vowell by her physical voice, as she is a regular contributor to Public Radio's "This American Life" and the voice of Violet in "The Incredibles." It is a unique voice, at once childish in pitch yet edgy.
Apparently, when she writes, the child is left at home with a babysitter. Hers is a voice of barbed observation combined with painstaking research on her chosen subject.
I decided I had to read "The Wordy Shipmates" after reading a review on CNN.com that contained a quote (from page 12) "Winthrop and his shipmates and their children and their children's children just wrote their own books and pretty much kept their noses in them up until the day God created the Red Sox."
Love it.
The form of the book is not standard; it's a long narrative without division into chapters. Chronologically, it goes from the departure of the Arbella through to King Phillip's War (remember THAT one from sixth grade, New Englanders? Yeah, those of us from the upper right-hand corner of the country know this stuff and can tell you which Indian nations sided with whom in the French and Indian wars. We made maps).
I liked this book well enough not only to HIGHLY recommend it but also to look for more works by Ms. Vowell like "Assassination Vacation."
Apparently, when she writes, the child is left at home with a babysitter. Hers is a voice of barbed observation combined with painstaking research on her chosen subject.
I decided I had to read "The Wordy Shipmates" after reading a review on CNN.com that contained a quote (from page 12) "Winthrop and his shipmates and their children and their children's children just wrote their own books and pretty much kept their noses in them up until the day God created the Red Sox."
Love it.
The form of the book is not standard; it's a long narrative without division into chapters. Chronologically, it goes from the departure of the Arbella through to King Phillip's War (remember THAT one from sixth grade, New Englanders? Yeah, those of us from the upper right-hand corner of the country know this stuff and can tell you which Indian nations sided with whom in the French and Indian wars. We made maps).
I liked this book well enough not only to HIGHLY recommend it but also to look for more works by Ms. Vowell like "Assassination Vacation."
October 22, 2008
Cutting to the chase: many times I was left wondering where the "good stuff" would come in after pages and pages of "inside baseball" details regarding the lives of 17th century New England puritans. Vowell was apparently fascinated by this stuff, enough to get a book deal; I suspect this one will prove far less interesting to the general public (not the "soap opera" quality she sees in it). Her wit is present, though not so "accounted for", along with parallels to current affairs, but not quite enough to raise the book beyond "okay" level for me.
The book would certainly prove rough going for anyone new to Vowell's writing!
The book would certainly prove rough going for anyone new to Vowell's writing!
January 26, 2009
Reading Sarah Vowell always makes feel like such an a-hole. I think she's so so funny and I love listening to her on NPR. Unfortunately, I am totally unable to stick it through one of her books. Always, always, always I make it about 1/4 of the way in and can't finish. It's funny, because while I'm reading that first fourth I'm totally down -- I read aloud sentences, I look up the people she's writing about, etc. but I always get distracted by her asides and find myself coming up with my own asides and wandering off to read some other piece about the topic she's pondering and never come back.
I'm going to try and nab this on CD and listen to it - maybe that will make the difference.
I'm going to try and nab this on CD and listen to it - maybe that will make the difference.
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