Sometimes, a retelling of history should make us laugh (while we learn important lessons). A prime example: the story of those early puritan settlers in Massachusetts, who always seem to be delivering a sermon, writing a pamphlet, or giving a lengthy, judgmental speech in front of a wooden ship about to set sail. Fortunately, author Sarah Vowell recognized the inherent comedy in our “wordy” ancestors, as well as the impact their culture had—and continues to have—on our lives in the present.
The Wordy Shipmates is almost always funny, always educational, and difficult to put down. Drawing from documented speeches, writings, and other primary sources from the early 1600’s Massachusetts Bay Colony, Vowell weaves a study of puritan values with our own present ideologies, and the uncanny comparisons she makes between the two are often shocking. And, of course, she includes relevant scenes from our favorite classic TV shows (like Happy Days and Bewitched) to prove her point that, even though we may consider the puritans as a silly bunch of ancestors—crazy, perhaps—we nonetheless continue to resemble them in many, many ways ~Jared