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The Wordy Shipmates | 
 enlarge | Author: Sarah Vowell
Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
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You Save: $11.55 (45%)
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Rating:  52 reviews
Sales Rank: 168
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
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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 47 more reviews...
 The pre-modern side of Puritan New England October 2, 2008
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
There's nothing like a Sarah Vowell book to provide a new slant on a historical period. In "The Wordy Shipmates," she tackles a rather odd era, and one for which most people have definite opinions: the settlement of Massachusetts by the Puritans. Vowell does not reveal that the Puritans were *not* the American version of the Taliban. Certainly, they were fanatical, even by the standards of their own time, and harsh and guilt-ridden to boot. Their endless arguments about the meaning of biblical verses and their extreme hatred and fear of "Papists" put them two steps away from the loony bin. Yet they possessed attitudes (and paranoias) that put them squarely at the root of what would become the American nation character. Having arrived on these shores, by the grace of God, they were ferociously jealous of their freedom from the intrigues and violent interference of the English court and church. Worried sick about takeover by their own government, they were careful to give at least the appearance of subservience to the powerful crown. Vowell's hero is John Winthrop, the first governor of the collection of rude shacks that became the city of Boston. Winthrop is an oxymoron -- a Puritan with a streak of practical morality -- who rules with a weird combination of Christian compassion and tyrannical ruthlessness. Over a fractious and easily offended populace, Winthrop bobs and weaves like a prize fighter, somehow managing to keep his society from fragmenting. Winthrop nearly meets his match with Roger Williams though. Williams, far from being the free-speech champion that we liberals thought him to be, is even more of a Puritan than the Puritans. He finds that his austere compatriots to be insufficiently willing to separate from the ungodly, raising the hackles of "moderates" like Winthrop, and eventually earning himself banishment from the community. Yet Vowell finds the silver lining in Williams, who, arguing for a wall to keep the government out of the *church*, set the stage for future debate that bore fruit over a century and a half later in the Bill of Rights.
"The Wordy Shipmates" is a fascinating read, peppered throughout with Vowell's entertaining and snarky similes and parallels. Her discussion of the way that most Americans (including herself) get their history from popular shows like "Happy Days" and "The Brady Bunch" is illuminating and a little scary. To counter this, Vowell provides plenty of primary material -- mostly from Winthrop's journals -- and provides explanations that give context and cut through the turgid 17th-century prose. Most aspects of tehstory move briskly,. Though her telling of the genocidal Pequot "War" drags a bit. She does do a great job of seeing how Winthrop's' "City on a Hill" image has been used and misused throughout history, especially by those who missed the point that at its base, the City was intended to describe a society whose members were bound to one another through Christian charity. For a closer look at a society which we tend to judge and dismiss, "The Wordy Shipmates" book is a gem.
Sarah Vowell Does It Again! September 28, 2008
20 out of 28 found this review helpful
Sarah Vowell is one of my favorite writers. She writes in such a way that makes history fun and interesting, even if you haven't studied it since high school.
THE WORDY SHIPMATES continues this trend. It focuses on the Puritans, the wave of settlers to Massachusetts who followed the Pilgrims. They were led by John Winthrop who is probably best known for coining the term "City on a hill" made famous by several Presidents, including Reagan. Vowell also writes about Roger Williams (who after being exiled from Massachusetts, settles Rhode Island), Anne Hutchinson, and the Native Americans.
Like her previous work, this is a highly entertaining read. You feel her enthusiasm for the time period. As I stated, even those who don't normally read history will find this fascinating.
This may end up being my favorite book this year.
I can't wait to read what she writes next.
Put this on the reading list for US history students, and on your list, too November 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have been quoting this book for a month now--it's so perfect during this ground-breaking election season. So much of our early history is eerily apropos to today. Well, maybe it's not so eerie, considering the influence the Winthrop era players have had on the founding of this country. Vowell is adept at tying the 17th century with the 20th and 21st centuries, and provides big enough chunks of original text to help make Winthrop and Williams and the rest of the wordy folks come alive, and for us to see them as three-dimensional people who may have been self-righteous but who also worried deeply about doing the right thing.
I checked this out of the library but am finally turning it back in and will buy a copy for my family and one for my history-buff mom. In addition to being a lively read, it's fairly short, considering its depth, so it won't get stuck on the bedside table with a bookmark in the the second chapter, like those tomes you thought would be good for your brain but turned out to be better for your sleep.
Dancing in History October 12, 2008
9 out of 13 found this review helpful
Sarah Vowell is my type of gal: writer extraordinaire, political guru, and complete and total history nerd. Coming off the success of the off-beat and incredibly likeable Assassination Vacation, Vowell brings to us the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony is her delightful new book, "The Wordy Shipmates".
People familiar with Vowell's work will be charmed with the musings of her new tome. Taking on colonial America and only she can see, Vowell paints a portrait of rugged stoicism, harshness, and reflective political discourse. She introduces us to John Winthrop, a middle class businessman and Puritan lucky enough to sail to the new land on the Arbella (why no fondly mention of this ship in our history books?). Winthrop's contribution to Americana has not been forgotton, mostly in the form of Reagan's classic speech which he evoked "the shining city on a hill" as a symbol for America. Turns out, as Vowell muses, Reagan's shining city on the hill had lots of trash, homelessness (by choice!), and people dying of AIDS, unacknowledged by the conservatives in Washington.
In fact, that's what Vowell is best at in this book. She gives us palatable doses of American history (so as not to scare off those people who are fact-phobic) and then writes a chain of observations of that theme (much like the radio show she often narrates for, This American Life) that are sometimes witty, and sometimes touching. In reading the aforementioned "Christian Charity" sermon, penned by Winthrope, Vowell takes us on a brief but incredibly touching journey through post 9/11 New York City, proving that yes, despite differences, we Americans DO come together and DO watch out for each other. Even in NYC.
I guess I love Vowell's writing because it appeals to the inner-history geek in me; the one that loves to imagine what it was like hundreds of years ago, braving an angry ocean, ship sicknesses, and coming to a new land; filled with people from an entirely different culture, and trying to make a new life. Vowell's writing is a perfect balance of fact and op ed musings that make spending time with her books the most worthwhile.
Sarah Vowell wrote this book - say no more October 17, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Anyone out there seen Sarah Vowell on Letterman or interviewed on NPR??? Then you know she is quirky, original and smart. This book about the founding fathers is a great sequel to her book ASSASINATION VACATION! She is putting a contemporary spin on the founding fathers by inserting their point of view on some of the social issues politicized in current times. True historical facts, quotes and issues placed in a contemporary politics unveil some of the absurdity of today's political issues and at the same time humanize our founding fathers. Fans of history, fans of good humor and fans of politics will love this book. That is about everyone, right?
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