The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell
|
List Price: Our Price: $1.96 You Save: $23.99 (92%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Wordy Shipmates
Book Review: Good, but kind of boring
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
The Wordy Shipmates focuses on the Puritans and their ideology. The inspiration for this book seems to have been a guy named John Winthrop and a speech that he wrote.
It's as amusing and interesting as a book about the puritans could be, and Vowell's enthusiasm for the subject shined through and made me want to be excited about it, too. However, there is only so much that can be done to spice up this topic, and even with her witty interjections and pop culture references I found myself getting bored in places.
If you are a fan of her work, or are interested in reading about American history from the point of view of someone other than a crusty old white guy for a change, you will enjoy this book.
Sarah, I love you girl, but please get obsessed with something more fun next time.
Book Review: Chatty and confrontational, interesting history
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
The subject matter is fascinating to me - I am a direct descendant of John Winthrop and Thomas Dudley and am a little embarrassed to realize how little I knew of their history. The author describes her writing style as "chatty and confrontational" - it is to me very informal and colloquial with frequent references to popular culture that are only barely intelligible to me as someone who is evidently slightly older than her. If references to episodes of the Brady Bunch mean nothing to you, don't even attempt to read this book. For all the breezy writing, I found it somewhat difficult reading. Nevertheless, I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the early history of Massachusetts for whatever reason, particularly if you know little about it to begin with.Book Review: Jam packed with info
Summary: 4 Stars
I love all of Sarah Vowell's work. I love how she find what could be dry, boring stuff and both entertains while she imparts the information, and also makes it so relevant to current events.
This newest book is no different. I learned so much that I didn't know about pre-Revolutionary New England. I didn't know much if anything about the founders of Boston, and I live within an hour's drive of the city - I've walked the Freedom Trail and all that, but this predates the Revolution by a nearly a century and a half.
I do feel it was a tad more disjointed than, say, Assassination Vacation, and so the tie up, as the "most helpful" reviewer has mentioned, is not as neat and tidy. I also was sad when it ended - which just means that I was enjoying Vowell's writing and wishing it would go on.
I would highly recommend it to any fan of Vowell's, and to anyone who enjoys history served up in an entertaining and slightly snarky manner.
Book Review: Entertaining History
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
First published in 2008, I reread this book for the third time this year-- it has in fact almost become a Thanksgiving ritual.
Possibly frustrating to the traditional history fan, I have found the information she provides about the various flavors of Puritanism and their interaction fascinating. This is information that was definitely left out of public school history books. Interwoven with personal anecdotes and leavened with a good deal of humor, I highly recommend this book.
I also broke down and bought the audible version. Over seven hours of entertainment with multiple narrators including the author herself, that can make a long car trip seem much shorter.
Book Review: A fresh look at the Puritans
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
As usual, Sarah Vowell makes a seemingly dull subject very interesting. She argues persuasively that the Puritans were not, as they have come to be seen, dullards and bores. They loved literature and politics, and reveled in debate and conversation. Sure, Vowell, says, they didn't swing and party, but they were passionate about their faith and their community. Vowell's writing is, as always, colloquial, not academic, and she makes clear her empathy for these hardy ancestors. The book peters out toward the end, as the Puritans are joined by other settlers who are not so pious and their passion dissipates. Still, a good read for 7/8s of the book.