I’m Bob Seay and this is a Radio Readers BookByte from High Plains Public Radio.
I’ve been reading Sarah Vowell’s book, The Wordy Shipmates. This is the story of the Puritans who settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 17th century, the values that brought them across the Atlantic to the New World, and how those values continue to affect America today.
Before I get into what I liked about this book—and I really did like this book—I just want to say that if more history books were written like this, then more Americans might be more inclined to read more history books. Sarah Vowell’s voice is simultaneously academic and conversational, with several grin-evoking, laugh aloud passages throughout the book. I did not expect to find this kind of entertainment in a book about Puritans and early American religious thought. It’s not a period exactly known for its heavy comedic styling.
The book’s title, The Wordy Shipmates, perfectly captures the Puritans’ obsession with words. These were people who loved sermons, theological arguments, and intellectual debates—and they wrote everything down. Their words, laws, and ideas laid the groundwork for the ideals of community and governance that we associate with early America. But Vowell doesn’t just present a sanitized version of these settlers. She dives into their inconsistencies, hypocrisies, and the human drama that made them so influential yet flawed.
At the heart of the story is John Winthrop, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Winthrop’s famous sermon, "A Model of Christian Charity," sets the tone for much of the book. In it, he describes the colony as a "city upon a hill," a shining example of moral unity and Christian charity. But as Vowell shows, this vision wasn’t without its tensions. Winthrop preached unity and selflessness, but the Puritans were deeply individualistic and quick to turn on each other over matters of belief.
This idea of the "city upon a hill" metaphor has had a long afterlife in American history. Politicians from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan have evoked it to justify America’s global leadership and sense of exceptionalism. Yet Vowell points out how far we’ve strayed from Winthrop’s original meaning. For him, the phrase was as much about humility and communal responsibility as it was about setting an example. It’s a reminder that ideals, once set loose in history, can take on a life of their own.
Contrast Winthrop with Roger Williams, another major figure in Vowell’s narrative. Williams was a firebrand and a staunch advocate for religious freedom and the separation of church and state—radical ideas in the Puritans’ theocratic world. He also believed that Native Americans should be compensated fairly for their land, a view that put him at odds with the colony’s leadership. Williams’ dissent eventually led to his exile, but he went on to found Rhode Island, a colony that embraced tolerance and freedom in ways Massachusetts never could.
Rounding out the story is Anne Hutchinson, one of the book’s most compelling figures. Hutchinson was a woman who dared to challenge the male-dominated Puritan leadership with her theological arguments. She hosted meetings in her home to discuss sermons, gaining a significant following. But her boldness in questioning the authorities led to her trial and eventual banishment. Her story underscores the risks of speaking out in a society that prized conformity, as well as the limited roles available to women in Puritan New England.
Vowell respects but she does not idolize the Puritans. One of the most haunting sections of the book deals with the Pequot War, a brutal conflict between the Puritans and the Pequot people, indigenous tribes of the Northeastern United States. The war, marked by massacres and the near destruction of the Pequot tribe, exposes the darker side of the Puritans’ mission. They justified their actions as part of their divine mandate, but Vowell doesn’t let them off the hook. She highlights the deep moral contradictions in their behavior: they preached charity and community while committing acts of shocking violence and, frankly, atrocities.
In the end, Vowell doesn’t romanticize the Puritans, but she doesn’t dismiss them either. She acknowledges their flaws—their intolerance, their violence, their occasional craziness—while recognizing the enduring influence of their ideals. Their emphasis on moral responsibility, community engagement, and intellectual rigor left a mark on American culture that can’t be ignored, even if we have failed to live up to those standards today.
The Wordy Shipmates is more than just a history book. It’s a conversation about the stories we inherit, the ideals we strive for, and the contradictions we carry. By humanizing the Puritans, Sarah Vowell challenges us to grapple with the messy, imperfect roots of the American experiment.
Bob Seay of Lamar, Colorado, is a writer who also teaches band, choir and guitar classes at his local high school. That’s his day job. By night, he posts and rails against the universe on social media at BobSeay.com .Bob is the author of The Band Room, Dad, Drawn to Murder and Portrait of a Murder. In 2016, Bob ran for Congress in a very conservative district. He notes that, “two out of three voters felt that he should continue teaching.”
