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Also by Sarah Vowell:

Lafayette in the Somewhat United States, November 2015
Hardcover / e-Book
Unfamiliar Fishes, April 2011
Hardcover
The Wordy Shipmates, October 2008
Hardcover
Assassination Vacation, January 2006
Trade Size (reprint)

THE WORDY SHIPMATES
By: Sarah Vowell

Riverhead
October 2008
On Sale: October 7, 2008
272 pages
ISBN: 1594489998
EAN: 9781594489990
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Biography | Non-Fiction History

The Wordy Shipmates is New York Times–bestselling author Sarah Vowell’s exploration of the Puritans and their journey to America to become the people of John Winthrop’s “city upon a hill”—a 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 conformity’s tyrannical enforcer? Answer: Yes!
* Was Rhode Island’s architect, Roger Williams, America’s 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 Vowell’s 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 America’s most celebrated voices. Thou shalt enjoy it.

Media Buzz

Late Show with David Letterman - April 4, 2011
Daily Show with Jon Stewart - October 5, 2009
Studio 360 - October 25, 2008
Late Show with David Letterman - October 22, 2008
Talk of the Nation - October 7, 2008
Daily Show with Jon Stewart - October 7, 2008
Late Show with David Letterman - October 6, 2008