The Wordy Shipmates; Critical Book Analysis

Overview
In Sarah Vowell’s fifth book, New York Times Bestseller, The Wordy Shipmates, the annals of  17th and 18th century  Puritan colonists, in Massachusetts Bay are explored. In this book Vowell is trying to prove that our nation was built on Puritan philosophies and ideals, our American attitude was derived from Puritan ideals,and that our democracy was based on the sermons of John cotton and John Winthrop. Utilizing a variety of Primary sources, such as John Cotton’s “God’s Promise to His Plantation”,“The Journal of John Winthrop, 1639-1649, etc. Vowell exceeds in supporting  her thesis throughout the novel which allows the reader to better comprehend what these radical Puritan leaders were thinking and how this contributed to the building of their society. With ridiculous humor and an ample amount of ridiculous personal reflections (such as travels with her cousin and sister, incorrect historical interpretations, first grade pageants, guilty/pitying feelings when reviewing history) Vowell first elaborates on the idea that the Puritan’s view themselves as God’s chosen people, the most obvious example of this mindset is John Winthrop’s sermon in which he calls upon New England to be “as a city upon a hill”  as well as the official seal of the Massachusetts Bay colony (a Native American saying “Come over and help us.”). This is  the first contribution to this country’s  legacy of associating or “helping” other nations even if they don’t want or need it, for example in the 1960s president Kennedy believes that the “U.S. must bear the burden…... of helping freedom defend itself,” and invades Vietnam or in  Spring 2003 when Bush announced that “American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger” by the way this absolutely contradicts our founding fathers philosophy, of “not firing shots in other countries’ wars”. Winthrop’s city on a hill speech may seem arrogant, but it worked among the masses whom felt humility and fear to keep their delusions of grandeur in check in the colonies and eventually shed the fear to our advantage and evolved into an important perception that America is blessed and ordained by all nations which justifies American exceptionalism then and now. Perhaps one of the most innovative documents of ‘primitive’ America described in this book was the Massachusetts Bay Charter, because early on, it involves a revolutionary way of thinking, making an attempt at self government that starts to ease away from scripture, as supported by Winthrop; “If we should change to mere democracy, first we should have no warrant in scripture for it for there was no such government in Israel.” and for the most part it was pretty successful. Under this charter, the colony becomes a vindictive, totalitarian  Republic but fuels a democratic impulse. Even though this charter  was somewhat scorned at the time it eventually became the principle of our stated elections, democracy and as a whole our government today which is still led by tough love and “strict enforcement of justice”.
Evaluation
When it comes down to the execution of the story, Vowell writes in an expository manner, and  is specified where necessary (except for the insignificant rants about sitcoms and whatnot), especially when it comes down major points such as A model of christian and its justification to society, the role of religion in government actions or the effects of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. By first discussing the individuals and their policies then leading up to the events that followed from their influence Vowell does a great job of explaining the society that eventually forms, also, by taking time to explain causes of major events such as the Pequot war or banishment of Roger Williams the reader has time to infer what happens next and acquire more clarity about the effects their actions/ideas have on the grander scheme of things, meaning the relation to American History. The most intriguing aspect of this book begins at the end, page 245, our nations’ thirty fifth president refers to Winthrop’s City on a hill speech, stating that the world is looking upon us, although this has already been reiterated by many of our nations’ great leaders the fact that he points out that history will judge everyone by courage, judgement, integrity and dedication really ties this story together as well as the relation to America that this nation is given so much but much more is required of us, statement that there is always a new beginning and  as long as we have the thoughts and prayers of the people we are not alone.