The Wordy Shipmates

Another captivating, time-skipping romp through history with Vowell
"History is written by the writers."

Sarah Vowell could never be BFFs with the 17th-century puritans who colonized Massachusetts Bay — they wrote the book(s) on American intolerance and exceptionalism, she sighs — but she can't help but dig their longwindedness. Those Church of England refugees were always posturing and sermonizing, and then running home to write in their diaries about it. Which makes them ideal subjects for Vowell's trademark time-skipping historical romps, and good excuses to reference the Brady Bunch and Happy Days Thanksgiving episodes. Where text books have often rendered John Winthrop and Roger Williams as paper-thin bores, The Wordy Shipmates, informed by all kinds of journals, logs and letters, paints them as fascinatingly literate anti-heroes, sympathetic for their flaws, laudable for their courage in the face of hardship, and devout as hell. If you're already a fan of Vowell's sly wit (and Lisa Simpson voice), this one is essential, captivating, more than worthy. And, if you're not, it's time to set sail.