{"title":"Sarah Vowell","description":"\u003cp\u003eDive into Sarah Vowell's witty and insightful explorations of American history and culture. Perfect for readers who enjoy a blend of humour, historical analysis, and personal reflection. Start your reading journey here.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"unfamiliar-fishes-book-sarah-vowell-9781594485640","title":"Unfamiliar Fishes","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom the author of \u003ci\u003eLafayette in the Somewhat United States\u003c\/i\u003e comes an examination of Hawaii, the place where Manifest Destiny got a sunburn.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e Of all the countries the United States invaded or colonized in 1898, Sarah Vowell considers the story of the Americanization of Hawaii to be the most intriguing. From the arrival of the New England missionaries in 1820, who came to Christianize the local heathens, to the coup d'etat led by the missionaries' sons in 1893, overthrowing the Hawaiian queen, the events leading up to American annexation feature a cast of beguiling, if often appalling or tragic, characters. Whalers who fire cannons at the Bible-thumpers denying them their god-given right to whores; an incestuous princess pulled between her new god and her brother-husband; sugar barons, con men, Theodore Roosevelt, and the last Hawaiian queen, a songwriter whose sentimental ode \"Aloha 'Oe\" serenaded the first Hawaiian-born president of the United States during his 2009 inaugural parade.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e With her trademark wry insights and reporting, Vowell sets out to discover the odd, emblematic, and exceptional history of the fiftieth state. In examining the place where Manifest Destiny got a sunburn, she finds America again, warts and all.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49514149118225,"sku":"GOR005604915","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50383911223569,"sku":"CIN159448564XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50393902711057,"sku":"CIN159448564XA","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51038420304145,"sku":"NIN9781594485640","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51417512214801,"sku":"CIN159448564XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52723301056785,"sku":"GOR014598238","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/159448564X.jpg?v=1751436762"},{"product_id":"wordy-shipmates-book-sarah-vowell-9781594484001","title":"The Wordy Shipmates","description":"\u003cb\u003eIn this \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller, the author of \u003ci\u003eLafayette in the Somewhat United States\u003c\/i\u003e\"brings the Puritan era wickedly to life\" (\u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e To this day, America views itself as a Puritan nation, but Sarah Vowell investigates what that means-and what it should mean. What she discovers is something far different from what their uptight shoebuckles- and-corn reputation might suggest-a highly literate, deeply principled, and surprisingly feisty people, whose story is filled with pamphlet feuds, witty courtroom dramas, and bloody vengeance.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Vowell takes us from the modern-day reenactment of an Indian massacre to the Mohegan Sun casino, from old-timey Puritan poetry, where \"righteousness\" is rhymed with \"wilderness,\" to a Mayflower-themed waterslide. Throughout, \u003ci\u003eThe Wordy Shipmates\u003c\/i\u003e is rich in historical fact, humorous insight, and social commentary by one of America's most celebrated voices.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49540054778129,"sku":"GOR005023433","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49612598837521,"sku":"GOR007519332","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49706816635153,"sku":"CIN1594484007VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49756608233745,"sku":"CIN1594484007G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50383861580049,"sku":"CIN1594484007A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1594484007.jpg?v=1751450273"},{"product_id":"wordy-shipmates-book-sarah-vowell-9781594489990","title":"The Wordy Shipmates","description":"\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author Sarah Vowell explores the Puritans and their journey to America in \u003ci\u003eThe Wordy Shipmates\u003c\/i\u003e. Even today, America views itself as a Puritan nation, but Vowell investigates what that means -- and what it should mean. What was this great political enterprise all about? Who were these people who are considered the philosophical, spiritual, and moral ancestors of our nation? The people she finds are highly literate, deeply principled, and surprisingly feisty. Their story is filled with pamphlet feuds, witty courtroom dramas, and bloody vengeance. Along the way she asks: \u003cbr\u003e - Was Massachusetts Bay Colony governor John Winthrop a communitarian, a Christ-like Christian, or conformity's tyrannical enforcer? Answer: Yes \u003cbr\u003e - Was Rhode Island's architect, Roger Williams, America's founding freak or the father of the First Amendment? Same difference.\u003cbr\u003e - What was the Puritans' pet name for the Pope? The Great Whore of Babylon. \u003cbr\u003e Sarah Vowell's special brand of armchair history makes the bizarre and esoteric fascinatingly relevant and fun. She takes us from the modern-day reenactment of an Indian massacre to the Mohegan Sun casino, from old-timey Puritan poetry, to a Mayflower-themed waterslide. The Wordy Shipmates is rich in historical fact, humorous insight, and social commentary by one of America's most celebrated voices. Thou shalt enjoy it.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49546962796817,"sku":"GOR003077205","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49775518056721,"sku":"GOR012142041","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49999435661585,"sku":"CIN1594489998G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50394215809297,"sku":"CIN1594489998A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50477142016273,"sku":"CIN1594489998VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1594489998.jpg?v=1751444298"},{"product_id":"lafayette-in-the-somewhat-united-states-book-sarah-vowell-9780399573101","title":"Lafayette in the Somewhat United States","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eFrom the bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eAssassination Vacation\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Partly Cloudy Patriot\u003c\/i\u003e, an insightful and unconventional account of George Washington's trusted officer and friend, that swashbuckling teenage French aristocrat the Marquis de Lafayette.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eChronicling General Lafayette's years in Washington's army, Vowell reflects on the ideals of the American Revolution versus the reality of the Revolutionary War.Riding shotgun with Lafayette, Vowell swerves from the high-minded debates of Independence Hall to the frozen wasteland of Valley Forge, from bloody battlefields to the Palace of Versailles, bumping into John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Lord Cornwallis, Benjamin Franklin, Marie Antoinette and various kings, Quakers and redcoats along the way.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Drawn to the patriots' war out of a lust for glory, Enlightenment ideas and the traditional French hatred for the British, young Lafayette crossed the Atlantic expecting to join forces with an undivided people, encountering instead fault lines between the Continental Congress and the Continental Army, rebel and loyalist inhabitants, and a conspiracy to fire George Washington, the one man holding together the rickety, seemingly doomed patriot cause.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e While Vowell's yarn is full of the bickering and infighting that marks the American past-and present-her telling of the Revolution is just as much a story of friendship- between Washington and Lafayette, between the Americans and their French allies and, most of all between Lafayette and the American people.Coinciding with one of the most contentious presidential elections in American history, Vowell lingers over the elderly Lafayette's sentimental return tour of America in 1824, when three fourths of the population of New York City turned out to welcome him ashore.As a Frenchman and the last surviving general of the Continental Army, Lafayette belonged to neither North nor South, to no political party or faction.He was a walking, talking reminder of the sacrifices and bravery of the revolutionary generation and what the founders hoped this country could be. His return was not just a reunion with his beloved Americans it was a reunion for Americans with their own astonishing, singular past.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Vowell'snarrative look at our somewhat united states ishumorous,irreverentand wholly original.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49547849629969,"sku":"GOR009267040","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49914761347345,"sku":"CIN0399573100G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50050775482641,"sku":"GOR012571169","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50652803432721,"sku":"CIN0399573100VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51002160644369,"sku":"NIN9780399573101","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52527119859985,"sku":"GOR014550131","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":53098775576849,"sku":"CIN0399573100A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0399573100.jpg?v=1751229291"},{"product_id":"take-the-cannoli-book-sarah-vowell-9780743205405","title":"Take the Cannoli","description":"\u003cb\u003eA wickedly funny collection of personal essays from popular NPR personality Sarah Vowell.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Hailed by \u003ci\u003eNewsweek\u003c\/i\u003e as a \"cranky stylist with talent to burn,\" Vowell has an irresistible voice -- caustic and sympathetic, insightful and double-edged -- that has attracted a loyal following for her magazine writing and radio monologues on \u003ci\u003eThis American Life\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e While tackling subjects such as identity, politics, religion, art, and history, these autobiographical tales are written with a biting humor, placing Vowell solidly in the tradition of Mark Twain and Dorothy Parker. Vowell searches the streets of Hoboken for traces of the town's favorite son, Frank Sinatra. She goes under cover of heavy makeup in an investigation of goth culture, blasts cannonballs into a hillside on a father-daughter outing, and maps her family's haunted history on a road trip down the Trail of Tears.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eTake the Cannoli\u003c\/i\u003e is an eclectic tour of the New World, a collection of alternately hilarious and heartbreaking essays and autobiographical yarns.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49553371005201,"sku":"GOR004004415","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49625571754257,"sku":"GOR013687890","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49925480382737,"sku":"CIN0743205405G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50362802831633,"sku":"CIN0743205405A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51006525210897,"sku":"NIN9780743205405","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51083467587857,"sku":"CIN0743205405VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53226826858769,"sku":"GOR004396773","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0743205405.jpg?v=1767434705"},{"product_id":"assassination-vacation-book-sarah-vowell-9780743260046","title":"Assassination Vacation","description":"ASSASSINATION VACATION finds Sarah Vowell further honing her trademark style, this time out she offers readers a roadmap that illuminates as never before the pit stops of American presidential devastation.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49553719165201,"sku":"GOR001764846","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49705380970769,"sku":"CIN074326004XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":49764315693329,"sku":"CIN074326004XA","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50066848547089,"sku":"GOR013851161","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50159404613905,"sku":"CIN074326004XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50751236899089,"sku":"GOR002757892","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51006309433617,"sku":"NIN9780743260046","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53117413720337,"sku":"GOR002396650","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/074326004X.jpg?v=1751431578"},{"product_id":"lafayette-in-the-somewhat-united-states-book-sarah-vowell-9781594631740","title":"Lafayette In The Somewhat United States","description":"From the bestselling author of Assassination Vacation and Unfamiliar Fishes, a humorous and insightful account of the Revolutionary War hero Marquis de Lafayette - the one Frenchman we could all agree on - and an insightful portrait of a nation's idealism and its reality.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49558083600657,"sku":"GOR008030819","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50037827502353,"sku":"CIN1594631743G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50291906052369,"sku":"CIN1594631743VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50392733647121,"sku":"CIN1594631743A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ LIKE_NEW \/ SBYB","offer_id":52768886456593,"sku":"CIN1594631743LN","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1594631743.jpg?v=1751423242"},{"product_id":"radio-on-book-sarah-vowell-9780312183011","title":"Radio on","description":"\u003cp\u003eThere are approximately 502 million radios in America. For this savvy, far-reaching diary, celebrated journalist and author Sarah Vowell turned hers on and listened--closely, critically, creatively--for an entire year.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e As a series of impressions and reflections regarding contemporary American culture, and as an extended meditation on both our media and our society, this keenly focused book is as insightful as it is refreshing.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Throughout \u003ci\u003eRadio On\u003c\/i\u003e, \"Vowell's touch is about as delicate as Teddy Kennedy's after a pitcher of martinis\" (Richard Roeper, \u003ci\u003eChicago Sun-Times\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49572093329681,"sku":"GOR006704534","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49778534285585,"sku":"CIN0312183011VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49925480677649,"sku":"CIN0312183011G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50348559008017,"sku":"CIN0312183011A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51000830722321,"sku":"NIN9780312183011","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0312183011.jpg?v=1750844879"},{"product_id":"partly-cloudy-patriot-book-sarah-vowell-9780241142066","title":"The Partly Cloudy Patriot","description":"In the title piece of this collection of personal stories, Sarah Vowell addresses her ambivalent relationship to American history and citizenship. Elsewhere, she confronts a wide range of subjects, themes, icons and historical moments: Vietnam and Watergate; Canadian Mounties and German filmmakers; Starbucks and Buffy the Vampire Slayer; twins and nerds; the Gettysburg Address; and George W. Bush's inauguration. A book about politics, presidents, pop culture, patriotism and pretty much everything else that matters in the world today, \"The Partly Cloudy Patriot\" is a refreshing, thought-provoking guide to the crazy heart of America.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49589751578897,"sku":"GOR002810931","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0241142067.jpg?v=1751101625"},{"product_id":"unfamiliar-fishes-book-sarah-vowell-9781594487873","title":"Unfamiliar Fishes","description":"\u003cb\u003e \u003cbr\u003eVowell makes an excellent travelling companion, what with her rare combination of erudition and cheek.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMany think of 1776 as the most defining year of American history, the year we became a nation devoted to the pursuit of happiness through self-government. In Unfamiliar Fishes, Sarah Vowell argues that 1898 might be a year just as crucial to our nation's identity, when, in an orgy of imperialism, the United States annexed Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and invaded Cuba, and then the Philippines, becoming a meddling, self-serving, militaristic international superpower practically overnight. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOf all the countries the United States invaded or colonized in 1898, Vowell considers the story of the Americanization of Hawaii to be the most intriguing. From the arrival of the New England missionaries in 1820, who came to Christianize the local heathen, to the coup d' tat led by the missionaries' sons in 1893, overthrowing the Hawaiian queen, the events leading up to American annexation feature a cast of beguiling if often appalling or tragic characters. Whalers who will fire cannons at the Bible-thumpers denying them their god-given right to whores. An incestuous princess pulled between her new god and her brother-husband. Sugar barons, con men, Theodore Roosevelt, and the last Hawaiian queen, a songwriter whose sentimental ode Aloha 'Oe serenaded the first Hawaii-born president of the United States during his 2009 inaugural parade. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWith Vowell's trademark wry insights and reporting, she lights out to discover the odd, emblematic, and exceptional history of the fiftieth state. In examining the place where Manifest Destiny got a sunburn, she finds America again, warts and all.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49610316480785,"sku":"GOR012949371","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49636189962513,"sku":"GOR010881166","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49696728023313,"sku":"CIN1594487871G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50192076439825,"sku":"CIN1594487871A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50275874930961,"sku":"CIN1594487871VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50806501212433,"sku":"GOR004216848","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1594487871.jpg?v=1751374654"},{"product_id":"radio-on-book-sarah-vowell-9780312147129","title":"Radio on","description":"\u003cp\u003eThere are approximately 502 million radios in America. For this savvy, far-reaching diary, celebrated journalist and author Sarah Vowell turned hers on and listened--closely, critically, creatively--for an entire year. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs a series of impressions and reflections regarding contemporary American culture, and as an extended meditation on both our media and our society, this keenly focused book is as insightful as it is refreshing. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThroughout \u003ci\u003eRadio On\u003c\/i\u003e, Vowell's touch is about as delicate as Teddy Kennedy's after a pitcher of martinis (Richard Roeper, \u003ci\u003eChicago Sun-Times\u003c\/i\u003e).","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49890979545361,"sku":"CIN0312147120VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49918201954577,"sku":"CIN0312147120G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0312147120.jpg?v=1751259835"},{"product_id":"take-the-cannoli-book-sarah-vowell-9780684867977","title":"Take the Cannoli","description":"A wickedly funny collection of personal essays from popular NPR personality Sarah Vowell. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHailed by \u003ci\u003eNewsweek\u003c\/i\u003e as a cranky stylist with talent to burn, Vowell has an irresistible voice -- caustic and sympathetic, insightful and double-edged -- that has attracted a loyal following for her magazine writing and radio monologues on \u003ci\u003eThis American Life\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhile tackling subjects such as identity, politics, religion, art, and history, these autobiographical tales are written with a biting humor, placing Vowell solidly in the tradition of Mark Twain and Dorothy Parker. Vowell searches the streets of Hoboken for traces of the town's favorite son, Frank Sinatra. She goes under cover of heavy makeup in an investigation of goth culture, blasts cannonballs into a hillside on a father-daughter outing, and maps her family's haunted history on a road trip down the Trail of Tears. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eTake the Cannoli\u003c\/i\u003e is an eclectic tour of the New World, a collection of alternately hilarious and heartbreaking essays and autobiographical yarns.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50178300805393,"sku":"CINB0044KZROQG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50205204283665,"sku":"CINB0044KZROQVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52094017569041,"sku":"GOR006476082","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/B0044KZROQ.jpg?v=1751360384"},{"product_id":"assassination-vacation-book-sarah-vowell-9780743260039","title":"Assassination Vacation","description":"\u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Wordy Shipmates \u003c\/i\u003eand contributor to NPR's This American Life Sarah Vowell embarks on a road trip to sites of political violence, from Washington DC to Alaska, to better understand our nation's ever-evolving political system and history. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSarah Vowell exposes the glorious conundrums of American history and culture with wit, probity, and an irreverent sense of humor. With \u003ci\u003eAssassination Vacation\u003c\/i\u003e, she takes us on a road trip like no other -- a journey to the pit stops of American political murder and through the myriad ways they have been used for fun and profit, for political and cultural advantage. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e From Buffalo to Alaska, Washington to the Dry Tortugas, Vowell visits locations immortalized and influenced by the spilling of politically important blood, reporting as she goes with her trademark blend of wisecracking humor, remarkable honesty, and thought-provoking criticism. We learn about the jinx that was Robert Todd Lincoln (present at the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley) and witness the politicking that went into the making of the Lincoln Memorial. The resulting narrative is much more than an entertaining and informative travelogue -- it is the disturbing and fascinating story of how American death has been manipulated by popular culture, including literature, architecture, sculpture, and -- the author's favorite -- historical tourism. Though the themes of loss and violence are explored and we make detours to see how the Republican Party became the Republican Party, there are all kinds of lighter diversions along the way into the lives of the three presidents and their assassins, including mummies, show tunes, mean-spirited totem poles, and a nineteenth-century biblical sex cult.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50233533301009,"sku":"CIN0743260031VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50362783334673,"sku":"CIN0743260031A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52105104294161,"sku":"CIN0743260031G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0743260031.jpg?v=1751328508"},{"product_id":"the-partly-cloudy-patriot-cd-9780743533485","title":"The Partly Cloudy Patriot","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom public radio \u003ci\u003eThis American Life\u003c\/i\u003e contributor and self-described history nerd Sarah Vowell comes a collection of humorous and personal essays investigating American history, pop culture and \u003ci\u003eBuffy the Vampire Slayer\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this insightful and funny collection of personal stories Vowell travels through the American past and in doing so ponders a number of curious questions: Why is she happiest when visiting the sites of bloody struggles like Salem or Gettysburg? Why do people always inappropriately compare themselves to Rosa Parks? Why is a bad life in sunny California so much worse than a bad life anywhere else? What is it about the Zen of foul shots? And, in the title piece, why must doubt and internal arguments haunt the sleepless nights of the true patriot? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHer essays confront a wide range of subjects, themes, icons, and historical moments: Ike, Teddy Roosevelt, and Bill Clinton; Canadian Mounties and German filmmakers; Tom Cruise and \u003ci\u003eBuffy the Vampire Slayer\u003c\/i\u003e; twins and nerds; the Gettysburg Address, the State of the Union, and George W. Bush's inauguration. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe result is a teeming and engrossing book, capturing Vowell's memorable wit and her keen social commentary.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50239108546833,"sku":"CIN0743533488G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0743533488.jpg?v=1751327970"},{"product_id":"the-wordy-shipmates-cd-9780743578196","title":"The Wordy Shipmates","description":"\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author Sarah Vowell explores the Puritans and their journey to America in \u003ci\u003eThe Wordy Shipmates\u003c\/i\u003e. Even today, America views itself as a Puritan nation, but Vowell investigates what that means -- and what it should mean. What was this great political enterprise all about? Who were these people who are considered the philosophical, spiritual, and moral ancestors of our nation? The people she finds are highly literate, deeply principled, and surprisingly feisty. Their story is filled with pamphlet feuds, witty courtroom dramas, and bloody vengeance. Along the way she asks: \u003cbr\u003e - Was Massachusetts Bay Colony governor John Winthrop a communitarian, a Christ-like Christian, or conformity's tyrannical enforcer? Answer: Yes \u003cbr\u003e - Was Rhode Island's architect, Roger Williams, America's founding freak or the father of the First Amendment? Same difference.\u003cbr\u003e - What was the Puritans' pet name for the Pope? The Great Whore of Babylon. \u003cbr\u003e Sarah Vowell's special brand of armchair history makes the bizarre and esoteric fascinatingly relevant and fun. She takes us from the modern-day reenactment of an Indian massacre to the Mohegan Sun casino, from old-timey Puritan poetry, to a Mayflower-themed waterslide. The Wordy Shipmates is rich in historical fact, humorous insight, and social commentary by one of America's most celebrated voices. Thou shalt enjoy it.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50276577083665,"sku":"CIN0743578198G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50325480636689,"sku":"CIN0743578198VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0743578198.jpg?v=1750701421"},{"product_id":"lafayette-in-the-somewhat-united-states-book-sarah-vowell-9780606394536","title":"Lafayette in the Somewhat United States","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eAssassination Vacation\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Partly Cloudy Patriot\u003c\/i\u003e, an insightful and unconventional account of George Washington's trusted officer and friend, that swashbuckling teenage French aristocrat the Marquis de Lafayette. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChronicling General Lafayette's years in Washington's army, Vowell reflects on the ideals of the American Revolution versus the reality of the Revolutionary War. Riding shotgun with Lafayette, Vowell swerves from the high-minded debates of Independence Hall to the frozen wasteland of Valley Forge, from bloody battlefields to the Palace of Versailles, bumping into John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Lord Cornwallis, Benjamin Franklin, Marie Antoinette and various kings, Quakers and redcoats along the way. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Drawn to the patriots' war out of a lust for glory, Enlightenment ideas and the traditional French hatred for the British, young Lafayette crossed the Atlantic expecting to join forces with an undivided people, encountering instead fault lines between the Continental Congress and the Continental Army, rebel and loyalist inhabitants, and a conspiracy to fire George Washington, the one man holding together the rickety, seemingly doomed patriot cause. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e While Vowell's yarn is full of the bickering and infighting that marks the American past--and present--her telling of the Revolution is just as much a story of friendship: between Washington and Lafayette, between the Americans and their French allies and, most of all between Lafayette and the American people. Coinciding with one of the most contentious presidential elections in American history, Vowell lingers over the elderly Lafayette's sentimental return tour of America in 1824, when three fourths of the population of New York City turned out to welcome him ashore. As a Frenchman and the last surviving general of the Continental Army, Lafayette belonged to neither North nor South, to no political party or faction. He was a walking, talking reminder of the sacrifices and bravery of the revolutionary generation and what the founders hoped this country could be. His return was not just a reunion with his beloved Americans it was a reunion for Americans with their own astonishing, singular past. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Vowell's narrative look at our somewhat united states is humorous, irreverent and wholly original. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eFrom the Hardcover edition.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50324141408529,"sku":"CIN0606394532VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50356632912145,"sku":"CIN0606394532G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0606394532.jpg?v=1751167270"},{"product_id":"assassination-vacation-cd-9780743540056","title":"Assassination Vacation","description":"\u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Wordy Shipmates \u003c\/i\u003eand contributor to NPR's This American Life Sarah Vowell embarks on a road trip to sites of political violence, from Washington DC to Alaska, to better understand our nation's ever-evolving political system and history. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSarah Vowell exposes the glorious conundrums of American history and culture with wit, probity, and an irreverent sense of humor. With \u003ci\u003eAssassination Vacation\u003c\/i\u003e, she takes us on a road trip like no other -- a journey to the pit stops of American political murder and through the myriad ways they have been used for fun and profit, for political and cultural advantage. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e From Buffalo to Alaska, Washington to the Dry Tortugas, Vowell visits locations immortalized and influenced by the spilling of politically important blood, reporting as she goes with her trademark blend of wisecracking humor, remarkable honesty, and thought-provoking criticism. We learn about the jinx that was Robert Todd Lincoln (present at the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley) and witness the politicking that went into the making of the Lincoln Memorial. The resulting narrative is much more than an entertaining and informative travelogue -- it is the disturbing and fascinating story of how American death has been manipulated by popular culture, including literature, architecture, sculpture, and -- the author's favorite -- historical tourism. Though the themes of loss and violence are explored and we make detours to see how the Republican Party became the Republican Party, there are all kinds of lighter diversions along the way into the lives of the three presidents and their assassins, including mummies, show tunes, mean-spirited totem poles, and a nineteenth-century biblical sex cult.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50358554001681,"sku":"CIN0743540050VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0743540050.jpg?v=1751361340"},{"product_id":"unfamiliar-fishes-cd-9781442337299","title":"Unfamiliar Fishes","description":"\u003cb\u003e \u003cbr\u003eVowell makes an excellent travelling companion, what with her rare combination of erudition and cheek.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMany think of 1776 as the most defining year of American history, the year we became a nation devoted to the pursuit of happiness through self-government. In Unfamiliar Fishes, Sarah Vowell argues that 1898 might be a year just as crucial to our nation's identity, when, in an orgy of imperialism, the United States annexed Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and invaded Cuba, and then the Philippines, becoming a meddling, self-serving, militaristic international superpower practically overnight. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOf all the countries the United States invaded or colonized in 1898, Vowell considers the story of the Americanization of Hawaii to be the most intriguing. From the arrival of the New England missionaries in 1820, who came to Christianize the local heathen, to the coup d' tat led by the missionaries' sons in 1893, overthrowing the Hawaiian queen, the events leading up to American annexation feature a cast of beguiling if often appalling or tragic characters. Whalers who will fire cannons at the Bible-thumpers denying them their god-given right to whores. An incestuous princess pulled between her new god and her brother-husband. Sugar barons, con men, Theodore Roosevelt, and the last Hawaiian queen, a songwriter whose sentimental ode Aloha 'Oe serenaded the first Hawaii-born president of the United States during his 2009 inaugural parade. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWith Vowell's trademark wry insights and reporting, she lights out to discover the odd, emblematic, and exceptional history of the fiftieth state. In examining the place where Manifest Destiny got a sunburn, she finds America again, warts and all.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50383197634833,"sku":"CIN144233729XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/144233729X.jpg?v=1750794856"},{"product_id":"lafayette-in-the-somewhat-united-states-book-sarah-vowell-9781410483737","title":"Lafayette in the Somewhat United States","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50426458341649,"sku":"CIN1410483738VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52113350918417,"sku":"CIN1410483738G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1410483738.jpg?v=1750955178"},{"product_id":"take-the-cannoli-book-sarah-vowell-9780241141632","title":"Take the Cannoli","description":"Daughter of a Montana gunsmith and closet Don Corleone disciple (\"'The Godfather' is a film crammed with rules for living\"), Sarah Vowell has written a delightful series of autobiographical stories which stretch across the immense landscape of the American scene. Tackling a diverse range of subjects, from politics and religion to the forgotten joys of mix-tapes, Vowell has the ability to spin a story on something as mundane as an Italian dessert. In search of the meaning of if not life, at least the ring-a-ding-ding of \"That's Life\", Vowell takes to the streets of Hoboken, New Jersey in seeking traces of the town's prodigal son, Frank Sinatra. She goes under cover of heavy make-up in an investigation of goth culture, hides from the world in the Chelsea Hotel and finally outgrows Armageddon in time for Y2K (\"I don't need the end of the world to make friends anymore\"). Brilliantly smart, sharp and engaging, \"Take the Cannoli\" presents a writer with a truly irresistible voice.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51333878513937,"sku":"CIN024114163XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51978115154193,"sku":"GOR001683318","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/024114163X.jpg?v=1750737493"},{"product_id":"lafayette-in-the-somewhat-united-states-cd-9781442391086","title":"Lafayette in the Somewhat United States","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eAssassination Vacation\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Partly Cloudy Patriot\u003c\/i\u003e, an insightful and unconventional account of George Washington's trusted officer and friend, that swashbuckling teenage French aristocrat the Marquis de Lafayette. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChronicling General Lafayette's years in Washington's army, Vowell reflects on the ideals of the American Revolution versus the reality of the Revolutionary War. Riding shotgun with Lafayette, Vowell swerves from the high-minded debates of Independence Hall to the frozen wasteland of Valley Forge, from bloody battlefields to the Palace of Versailles, bumping into John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Lord Cornwallis, Benjamin Franklin, Marie Antoinette and various kings, Quakers and redcoats along the way. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Drawn to the patriots' war out of a lust for glory, Enlightenment ideas and the traditional French hatred for the British, young Lafayette crossed the Atlantic expecting to join forces with an undivided people, encountering instead fault lines between the Continental Congress and the Continental Army, rebel and loyalist inhabitants, and a conspiracy to fire George Washington, the one man holding together the rickety, seemingly doomed patriot cause. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e While Vowell's yarn is full of the bickering and infighting that marks the American past--and present--her telling of the Revolution is just as much a story of friendship: between Washington and Lafayette, between the Americans and their French allies and, most of all between Lafayette and the American people. Coinciding with one of the most contentious presidential elections in American history, Vowell lingers over the elderly Lafayette's sentimental return tour of America in 1824, when three fourths of the population of New York City turned out to welcome him ashore. As a Frenchman and the last surviving general of the Continental Army, Lafayette belonged to neither North nor South, to no political party or faction. He was a walking, talking reminder of the sacrifices and bravery of the revolutionary generation and what the founders hoped this country could be. His return was not just a reunion with his beloved Americans it was a reunion for Americans with their own astonishing, singular past. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Vowell's narrative look at our somewhat united states is humorous, irreverent and wholly original. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51417008341265,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51417009258769,"sku":"CIN1442391081G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1442391081.jpg?v=1750794866"},{"product_id":"take-the-cannoli-book-sarah-vowell-9780141006574","title":"Take the Cannoli","description":"This series of funny, mordant pieces on American experience, mostly seen through some aspect of popular culture, covers: Frank Sinatra's home-town of Hoboken and his ghostly presence there; Springsteen and the pleasures of home-taping; and Vowell's relationship with her gunsmith father.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53478833226001,"sku":"GOR003263076","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53478838567185,"sku":"GOR002951968","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780141006574.jpg?v=1777510255"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/de-ch\/collections\/autor-buecher-von-sarah-vowell.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}