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quartertonality 's review for:
Unfamiliar Fishes
by Sarah Vowell
I have read nearly everything that [a:Sarah Vowell|2122|Sarah Vowell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1297911965p2/2122.jpg] has written (just have to get to[b:Take the Cannoli|12357|Take the Cannoli|Sarah Vowell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1166501351s/12357.jpg|748402] and [b:Radio On: A Listener's Diary|1383860|Radio On A Listener's Diary|Sarah Vowell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1183149151s/1383860.jpg|14663]).
The last book of hers that I read was [b:The Wordy Shipmates|8093917|The Wordy Shipmates|Sarah Vowell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356092618s/8093917.jpg|3093704], and I didn't really connect with it the way that I had with everything else that I had read. As I think most other people have noted, what makes Vowell's books so enjoyable and interesting are her personal interjections and insights, and I think that there was maybe a little less of that in The Wordy Shipmates.
[b:Unfamiliar Fishes|10961250|Unfamiliar Fishes|Sarah Vowell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1315281461s/10961250.jpg|13594625], on the other hand, seems to strike a better balance of historical, factual writing and personal interjections. The story is maybe the same as Wordy Shipmates: people come over from another land citing religion as an excuse for their inexcusable (to say the least) behavior. People violently destroying a land and its people in the name of "saving them." This story goes right up to modern times and is still relevant today as it was when Hawaii first experienced the haole coming to their land, unwelcomed.
It's amazing, as Vowell points out, how we never seem to learn from our mistakes. Either for the sake of "saving people" (a frame of mind that persists to this day) or for the sake of our own military's interest (another frame of mind that persists to this day, and another way of looking at "saving people"). It's heartbreaking to learn of the ways that America has worked toward the government's best interest against the will of it's own people and the people of other nations. This is a bit more of a powerful book than any of Vowell's previous writing, and I think that is worth reading.
The last book of hers that I read was [b:The Wordy Shipmates|8093917|The Wordy Shipmates|Sarah Vowell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356092618s/8093917.jpg|3093704], and I didn't really connect with it the way that I had with everything else that I had read. As I think most other people have noted, what makes Vowell's books so enjoyable and interesting are her personal interjections and insights, and I think that there was maybe a little less of that in The Wordy Shipmates.
[b:Unfamiliar Fishes|10961250|Unfamiliar Fishes|Sarah Vowell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1315281461s/10961250.jpg|13594625], on the other hand, seems to strike a better balance of historical, factual writing and personal interjections. The story is maybe the same as Wordy Shipmates: people come over from another land citing religion as an excuse for their inexcusable (to say the least) behavior. People violently destroying a land and its people in the name of "saving them." This story goes right up to modern times and is still relevant today as it was when Hawaii first experienced the haole coming to their land, unwelcomed.
It's amazing, as Vowell points out, how we never seem to learn from our mistakes. Either for the sake of "saving people" (a frame of mind that persists to this day) or for the sake of our own military's interest (another frame of mind that persists to this day, and another way of looking at "saving people"). It's heartbreaking to learn of the ways that America has worked toward the government's best interest against the will of it's own people and the people of other nations. This is a bit more of a powerful book than any of Vowell's previous writing, and I think that is worth reading.