 Clever and interesting but annoying
Before I start, I should mention that I don't really like audio books. I find that I tend to think about what I am hearing. With a book, I can simply stop reading for a moment and do my thinking. With an audio book, it is more difficult as the reader keeps going in spite of my no longer listening. It's also hard to skim through an audio book and skip the boring parts. Truthfully, I got this audio book by mistake, not realizing that this was not the print version. That being said...
First, the reading... Sarah Vowell does a noble job of reading her book. However, some people may find her voice annoying after a few hours. She makes a good attempt at speaking clearly but I found it hard not to think of Violet Parr from "The Incredibles" as I listened. The occasional musical interludes were pointless enough to get me to push the next button.
Second, the text... The book is about the Puritans and how they came to this country to build the city on the hill. Ms. Vowell does an excellent job of showing how our understanding of the Puritans and what they actually meant by that "city on a hill" (Hint: it was not Ronald Reagan's "shining city on a hill") is mostly wrong. Unfortunately, the book is not nearly as good as Ms. Vowell's earlier books. Her wandering through "The Brady Bunch" and "Bewitched" did not move the story along and was not particularly humorous. Her frequent allusions to the Bush administration were funnier but dated the book and would probably not be funny in a year or two. And bringing up Ron Paul will surely make many readers think, "Who?" not too long from now, if not now. Anyway, Ms. Vowell has obviously done extensive research and her book is rather interesting ignoring Marsha Brady's broken nose.
My conclusion is that if you enjoy audio books (and I assume you do since you are looking at the audio version of this book) and you are a fan of Ms. Vowell then you will surely enjoy this audio book version. If you are not already familiar with Ms. Vowell's work, then I would recommend Assassination Vacation before this book.
 Not one of Vowell's best efforts
After thoroughly enjoying "Assassination Vacation," I was looking forward to Ms. Vowell's next effort. However, I was disappointed by "The Wordy Shipmates". Vowell, in her other works, consistently throws in enough personal anecdotes and pop cultural references to keep her reader entertained as well as informed. Vowell does this throughout the first half of the book but as it drags on she merely seems to rehash the well worn story of the Puritans conflict with Native Americans as well as the Anne Hutchinson split. Ms. Vowell merely seems to be regurgitating the highly recommended Nathaniel Philbrick's 'Mayflower' rather then adding her usual humor and vitality and ever present macabre sense of humor. Overall, not her best effort, but I still look forward to her other books, and she probably will do better next time.
"Jokey" history with constant interruptions
Sarah Vowell specializes in what might be called "jokey popular history." She's serious about her subject but she tries to wrap it up in a -- well duh! style of writing interspersed with many personal asides, some relevant, some not.
Here, she writes about the founding of the colonies of Massachusetts and Rhode Island and the colorful characters who inspired them. This quickly draws her into abstruse theological differences that today seem highly irrelevant. But she succeeds in demonstrating that the ideas of men like John Winthrop and Roger Williams did much to form the kind of country the United States eventually became -- and continue to live on today, although much altered by history.
Though she admires both men, she also judges them by 21st century moral standards and finds both wanting. Of course, the ultimate blot on the record of these fine-speaking avatars of Christian morality was the appaling massacre of Native Americans at Mystic Fort when women and children were burned alive.
I found the material interesting but the author's radiophonic "This American Life" interruptions were often intrusive. She tends to ramble. One and a half thumbs up for this one.
A Little More Self-Aware Than I Like
It could just be me, but I just feel like Sarah is a little too self-aware of her role in the media, and that she's trying too hard to be the person she thinks we're expecting her to be.
The book is well-written and researched, as I have come to expect from her works. I just got tired of the tone after a while. I still give it 4 stars, because it really is a very good book. Just not a great one.
 Sarah Vowell is a gem
But is this audiobook a gem? I couldn't tell you. See, I don't have a cd player apart from my computer. And the computer can't read these discs. Fancy copy protection. Pretty dumb if you ask me.
So how to review the book? Well the audiobook has to get thumbs down for the content protection. I mean, come on, are there that many ravenous bittorent pirates who are out there saying "to heck with the latest porn and The Dark Knight, I gotta file share that new Sarah Vowell immediately!"
So I could have given it one star.
But that would be mean.
And if you think about it, it just goes to show what a cool person Sarah Vowell is, beset on all sides by people doing her wrong including misguided industry hacks. (Psst.....the more people who read it/hear it the better. It's not Diddy's latest.)
(Her New York Times columns were absolutely classic, too.)
So, five stars for now, but I'm still working on hearing/reading this book. And at that point, content based review, here I come.
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