The Wordy Shipmates

Starred review from July 28, 2008
Essayist and public radio regular Vowell (Assassination Vacation
) revisits America's Puritan roots in this witty exploration of the ways in which our country's present predicaments are inextricably tied to its past. In a style less colloquial than her previous books, Vowell traces the 1630 journey of several key English colonists and members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Foremost among these men was John Winthrop, who would become governor of Massachusetts. While the Puritans who had earlier sailed to Plymouth on the Mayflower
were separatists, Winthrop's followers remained loyal to England, spurred on by Puritan Reverend John Cotton's proclamation that they were God's chosen people. Vowell underscores that the seemingly minute differences between the Plymouth Puritans and the Massachusetts Puritans were as meaningful as the current Sunni/Shia Muslim rift. Gracefully interspersing her history lesson with personal anecdotes, Vowell offers reflections that are both amusing (colonial history lesson via The Brady Bunch
) and tender (watching New Yorkers patiently waiting in line to donate blood after 9/11).

Essayist and public radio contributor Sarah Vowell recounts the journey of the ARABELLA, England's lesser-known Puritan venture to the New World, and the ensuing settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In an endeavor hefty in scope and satire, Vowell's charmingly childlike voice and tempered pace ease the listener along as she discusses the Puritanical origins of the muddled relationship between church and state in the U.S. With subtle inflections and her famously deadpan sarcasm, Vowell simply yet eloquently articulates her case for secular government. An assortment of celebrities intermittently recites Vowell's referenced historical quotes in earnest, enhancing the bill. The erudite performance also benefits from a handful of brief Old World musical interludes, aptly evoking the Seafaring Age. A.P.C. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine