The Wordy Shipmates | 
 enlarge | Author: Sarah Vowell
Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
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Rating:  63 reviews
Sales Rank: 121
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.1
ISBN: 1594489998
Dewey Decimal Number: 974.0882859
EAN: 9781594489990
ASIN: 1594489998
Publication Date: October 7, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The Wordy Shipmates is New York Timesbestselling author Sarah Vowells exploration of the Puritans and their journey to America to become the people of John Winthrops city upon a hilla shining example, a city that cannot be hid.
To this day, America views itself as a Puritan nation, but Vowell investigates what that means and what it should mean. What was this great political enterprise all about? Who were these people who are considered the philosophical, spiritual, and moral ancestors of our nation? What Vowell discovers is something far different from what their uptight shoe-buckles-and- corn reputation might suggest. The people she finds are highly literate, deeply principled, and surprisingly feisty. Their story is filled with pamphlet feuds, witty courtroom dramas, and bloody vengeance. Along the way she asks:
*Was Massachusetts Bay Colony governor John Winthrop a communitarian, a Christlike Christian, or conformitys tyrannical enforcer? Answer: Yes!
*Was Rhode Islands architect, Roger Williams, Americas founding freak or the father of the First Amendment? Same difference.
*What does it take to get that jezebel Anne Hutchinson to shut up? A hatchet.
*What was the Puritans pet name for the Pope? The Great Whore of Babylon.
Sarah Vowells special brand of armchair history makes the bizarre and esoteric fascinatingly relevant and fun. She takes us from the modern-day reenactment of an Indian massacre to the Mohegan Sun casino, from old-timey Puritan poetry, where righteousness is rhymed with wilderness, to a Mayflower-themed waterslide. Throughout, The Wordy Shipmates is rich in historical fact, humorous insight, and social commentary by one of Americas most celebrated voices. Thou shalt enjoy it.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 58 more reviews...
 Sarah Vowell is a gem November 30, 2008
But is this audiobook a gem? I couldn't tell you. See, I don't have a cd player apart from my computer. And the computer can't read these discs. Fancy copy protection. Pretty dumb if you ask me.
So how to review the book? Well the audiobook has to get thumbs down for the content protection. I mean, come on, are there that many ravenous bittorent pirates who are out there saying "to heck with the latest porn and The Dark Knight, I gotta file share that new Sarah Vowell immediately!"
So I could have given it one star.
But that would be mean.
And if you think about it, it just goes to show what a cool person Sarah Vowell is, beset on all sides by people doing her wrong including misguided industry hacks. (Psst.....the more people who read it/hear it the better. It's not Diddy's latest.)
(Her New York Times columns were absolutely classic, too.)
So, five stars for now, but I'm still working on hearing/reading this book. And at that point, content based review, here I come.
 Great Idea but Does not Fully Deliver November 29, 2008
I will admit that I enjoyed this book very much. I think Sarah Vowell did a great job of explaining how the Puritans who first settled here in 1620 & 1630 have had a continual and ongoing impact on the U.S. Her irreverent tone and tongue in cheek approach to telling their story and her own search for their modern day remnants is very well written.
I do disagree with a number of the points that argue that Vowell argues that the somehow the Puritans created this modern religious right wing colossus. Not only does she spend a great time discussing her own Pentecostal upbringing, but she does a great job of explaining how both Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson were to serve as role models for many dissenters down the line.
The books one great weakness is that it does tend to meander from topic and gets diffuse at certain points. There is a lot of filler and the story often times becomes non-linear it seems. But all in all if you're a history buff and especially if you enjoyed Assassination Vacation you will enjoy this!
Vowell Is A Historian's John Stewart November 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Witty, droll, and insightful, she took on the early Massachusetts Bay Colony--the Puritans who settled Masschutsetts Bay--Salem, Boston, Cambridge, etcetera ten years after Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock--but puts what they wrote and did in the context of their time and what occurred before and after: from John Wycliffe's fourteen century English translation of the Bible to the present, including Thanksgiving episodes in Happy Days and President Bush's justification for invading Iraq.
Vowell had a lively bunch to work with: Winthrop, Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, John Cotton, and a score of others, complex characters all. She praises them for courage, perseverance, and rectitude but shows their failings as well, including a great deal of hypocrisy and cruelty, especially towards Native Americans. However, The Wordy Shipmates is not some liberal diatribe against these mythical icons. Vowell acknowledges the great debt she and we owe them--from free speech to civil rights--and freely confesses she likes them and would love to have the bunch over for a lively if contentious Thanksgiving dinner.
Some disclaimers are in order. First, to appreciate this excellent work, one must relax and get into Vowell's mind. Though enlightening, this book was written to entertain. Don't buy it if you are looking for some score to settle. It's too complex and balanced for that. Secondly, prepare yourself for its lack of chapters. Every few pages has a break set off with an oversized initial capital--a place to put the book down for dinner--but otherwise it's a 248 page essay. But that adds to the experience. The one suggestion I make is the book could be improved with an index, which would allow the reader to revisit favorite passages without rereading the entire book (an index would not assist the midnight student doing a last minute term paper--this is not a reference book.
A Great Audio Book for Peopl Who Don't Like Audio Books November 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm writing about the audio version of the book, and so will gloss over some of the virtues of the book itself.
One of the great treats in Vowell's work is that it's so conversational-- erudite and yet intimate at the same time. It's no surprise that Vowell completely captures that in her reading of her own work. Audiobooks often play like radio theater, or a Reading Fraught With Import. Pop this one in the car cd player, and it's like taking a trip with a smart, funny traveling companion.
There is so much nuance in the human voice, and nobody but the author is ever going to get it right. Vowell's own POV contains little quirks and dry twists of humor that few could deliver well.
The guest voices are fine, and while their name value is interesting, their contributions are brief block-quote reads that could have been anyone.
Vowell, as always, excels in understanding and explaining with an equal eye for strengths and weaknesses. Her politics are clear, and while you may not always agree, they're plainly stated as her preferences and not some higher truth. She is particular adept at seeing connections between events, ideas, beliefs and people, so that even the history that you already know becomes more interesting as you see where it ties in to other things.
This is am audio book for people who don't really like them, because it gets everything just right. As such, it would make a great gift-- there are plenty of people out there who won't realize they'd like this until they have it.
Sarah Vowell at her best! November 25, 2008
In this, Sarah Vowell's latest book, she continues to amaze us with her facts about the puritans and the pilgrams .....and all of those characters in our American History...in the delightful captivating way that only Sarah can make history riviting. keeping us reading non-stop. This is a book you must read, and as the quote from the dust jacket says, "Thou shalt enjoy it."
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