I've greatly enjoyed all of Vowell's books previous to The Wordy Shipmates.

That first sentence is probably not a ringing endorsement for book, I know. Truth be told, there were aspects of Shipmates I enjoyed very much. The story of the Puritans coming to the New World has always been an interesting one to me, especially in light of the way I was taught the story versus The Way Things Actually Were. Vowell does a nice job connecting the Puritans struggle and beliefs with America today, with pit stops along the way examining some of the more interesting members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Certainly you won't find a better book on Anne Hutchinson this year.

So why wasn't I crazy about this book? I suppose, of all of Vowell's books, this one is the most dry. There's an essence of "just the facts" that The Wordy Shipmates is imbued with that is just fine for a history book. I can't fault it for that. I did miss a lot of the snarky personal response that Vowell usually injects her book with. It's here, it's just not as omnipresent as it was in Assassination Vacation and other previous works.

For example, I had no problem listing Assassination Vacation under the tag "memoir" here on GoodReads. I really don't think I can do the same thing with this one. That's certainly not a bad thing, just not what I was expecting.

In short, it's a fine history book but those looking for the same experience they had with her earlier works may find this lacking.