Brooks on Books: The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell

I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. I wanted to love this book, the way I loved Vowell's previous "Assassination Vacation." That one was a wonderful blend of travelogue, history, and Vowell's own insights and quirks. I had trouble putting it down.

Unfortunately, "Shipmates" is just nowhere near as enthralling. Vowell is still an amusing writer, of course, and it's fun to read why she is so "into" the Puritans--she feels connected to them because of their love of literacy and learning--but it doesn't produce as compelling a read. I think the big factor here is that, much as Vowell strains to make them so, this cast of characters just isn't as interesting as the nutball assassins and presidents in "Vacation." Plus there is less of Vowell the traveling history buff in here, and I miss that.

This is not the story of the Mayflower, mind you, but of the Puritans who sailed across the Atlantic in 1630 led by John Winthrop. Other key figures in the book include Roger Williams, eventual founder of Providence; and passionate settler Anne Hutchinson. Vowell does a good job of detailing the religious conflicts between these individuals; she is less effective at drawing parallels to modern society. Her analysis of how Winthrop's famous "city on the hill" sermon was later appropriated by Ronald Reagan, along with how America became an interventionist imperial power, is interesting. But early in the book, she goes on an extended rant about U.S. involvement in Iraq, and while her stance isn't surprising, the section is a little jarring in this context. Hardcore Bush supporters will be turned off fairly early.

It's Vowell's ability to inject her own spirited feelings and love of history into material like this, though, that makes "Vacation" so awesome and "Shipmates" less so but still worthwhile. don't get me wrong; this is merely a 2.5 star-3 star book instead of a 4-star book, but it still has its virtues. I might have liked it more had I read it first.

There are some laughs, some clever pop culture references, and some poignant personal history, such as when she talks about her Cherokee ancestors' suffering on the Trail of Tears. She does her best with these Puritans, but at least to me, she just can't make them stand out as great personalities. "Shipmates" is fine at its relatively short page count; just don't expect anything like its predecessor.