You can see just a touch of yellow in that book “The Wordy Shipmates” by Sarah Vowell. I’m a big fan of Sarah who is a regular contributor too “This American Life” on Public Radio International. She is not a historian, just somebody who loves to learn a lot about history. Her previous book “Assassination Vacation” is full of all kinds of fascinating tidbits and stuff that is fun to know, but only really useful if you are a contestant on Jeopardy or want to dominate a game of Trivial Pursuit. Actually, it might not even help you at Trivial Pursuit, but it’s still fun to learn. You know, it’s all the cool stuff they never teach you in school.
Kind of related side note: I just read this on Twitter from Olivia Munn who I am following…
- “Just got done seeing too many historical monuments- so tired now.. Should’ve just read the brochure in the hotel room.”
Umm .. Sorry Olivia .. You might be unfreakingbelievably gorgeous and just about the coolest chick on TV, but you just lost points babe. “Just read the brochure?” Oh please!
Anyone can read about history. But, actually seeing it first hand and exploring it all in person is the way to really experience it. Just reading the brochure when all the great stuff is right outside your door, is totally missing out.
But, back to the book …
In “The Wordy Shipmates” … actually, should I be underlining book titles or are the quotes correct? I’ve really been wondering about that lately.
Anyhoodle, “The Wordy Shipmates” is about the Pilgrims who came to America way back in the day. No, not those Pilgrims. Not the ones that came over on the Mayflower. These Pilgrims came over on the Arbella and settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony (Bahston) and Rhode Island. The Puritans.
Turns out these Puritans did a great job of documenting everything that was going on, hence the name of the book. Most of the book is focused on their leader John Winthrop and his writings. The writing she talks about most is Winthrop’s sermon “A Model of Christian Charity.” This is where we get the phrase “A shining city on a hill” to describe the United States. Well, initially it was jut Massachusetts that he described that way, but you might have heard a few politicians (like all of them) use this phrase from time to time.
Like her other books Vowells wanders from time to time. Heading off on tangents discussing how wrong “The Brady Bunch” and “Happy Days” and others have been over the years about the Puritans. But, as usual she eventually ties all the loose ends together and makes her point.
I will warn you though, if you are a fan of Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush, you might get annoyed from time to time in this book. Sarah is known for her social commentary, and let’s just say her commentary leans pretty hard to the left. Much more so in this book than in “Assassination Vacation.” But, if you can toss that aside and just enjoy the book, you will enjoy yourself quite a bit. And you just might learn a few cool things too.
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