Elaine and I went to Denver last night to attend a Sarah Vowell reading and book-signing at The Tattered Cover – the big independent bookstore in town. I haven’t actually read a Sarah Vowell book – she read from her newest The Wordy Shipmates – but her essays on This American Life are great, she’s sort of a Rock Star for nerds, and the event was free.
I came away impressed by her encyclopedic knowledge of her subject and her general style – which is to inject so much humor into history that you forget that you’re learning. The funniest/most poignant sequence of the night was when someone asked her how she felt about Sarah Palin injecting the phrase "city on a hill" into the presidential campaign. Vowell said she was saddened that Palin's reference was to Ronald Reagan rather than a more original source, like John Winthrop, or, you know, Jesus.
This recent interview in The Wall Street Journal covers a lot of what she said.
2 comments:
I just read Assassination Vacation this summer. It sounds like her writing and speaking style are similar. I was entertained and educated at the same time. I recommend it if you're not bogged down with dissertation reading.
She's coming to Austin!!!
G is right; Assassination Vacation is amazing and you should read it. Now.
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