The Wordy Shipmates

I saw Sarah Vowell on The Daily Show a few months ago, when this book came out, and immediately added it to my to-read list. She was just fun! So I was happy to find that this was a fun, easy read...AND I learned something!

It's what you might call an "armchair history" of some of the early European settlers of North America. Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, for example, is described as someone hard to like but easy to love. (I think that's a quote but I don't have the book in front of me. Sorry.)

I also enjoyed learning that Sarah Vowell grew up in Oklahoma, although of course she's gone now, and will never look back. Sigh. I get it, I certainly do, but you know, it's still sad that no one comes back.

Anyway. Fun book, good book, historically accurate and interesting. Full of the author's personal moral judgments and politics, though, so be ready for that because it's not your typical history.