trademark Sarah Vowell humor in a personal vein
4 stars
Although written in the same quippishly humorous and self-deprecating style, this book is different the others I've read where there's a focus to the narrative thread, like the annexation of Hawaii, or how the Puritans were incredibly literate, or Lafayette. Although there's quite a bit of history (and recent history particularly Clinton/Gore/Bush politics), this book is more about her love of history and some random other stuff, kind of like a Chuck Klosterman essay collection but way less mean and snarky. I find her self-admittedly partisan allegiance to Clinton less endearing - the book was written two decades before MeToo, so I don't know if she would agree that hasn't aged well (also the chapter extolling Canada's benificence to Native Americans is a wincer now that I know of their own forced boarding schools), but on the hand neither has Joss Whedon and I give her points for bringing up …
Although written in the same quippishly humorous and self-deprecating style, this book is different the others I've read where there's a focus to the narrative thread, like the annexation of Hawaii, or how the Puritans were incredibly literate, or Lafayette. Although there's quite a bit of history (and recent history particularly Clinton/Gore/Bush politics), this book is more about her love of history and some random other stuff, kind of like a Chuck Klosterman essay collection but way less mean and snarky. I find her self-admittedly partisan allegiance to Clinton less endearing - the book was written two decades before MeToo, so I don't know if she would agree that hasn't aged well (also the chapter extolling Canada's benificence to Native Americans is a wincer now that I know of their own forced boarding schools), but on the hand neither has Joss Whedon and I give her points for bringing up Buffy the Vampire Slayer in perhaps my favorite of the chapters, which is basically about nerds and Al Gore (nerd) and how the media shafted him and helped "lose" the election (some things never change). That chapter is good because as a self-described nerd it's personal, which is why I'm not calling them essays, it reads as more an autobiographical thread, but on the other hand it's disjointed. The chapter on 9/11 is a fine heartfelt reflection on patriotism and I thought that was a good ending, but then there were a few more chapters on the lunchroom in Carlsbad Caverns and Teddy Roosevelt. But life goes on I guess.