The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell

The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell

224 pages

Published October 2003 by Simon and Schuster

Publisher's Summary: 

In 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?

Her 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 Buffy the Vampire Slayer; twins and nerds; the Gettysburg Address, the State of the Union, and George W. Bush's inauguration. 

The result is a teeming and engrossing book, capturing Vowell's memorable wit and her keen social commentary.

My Thoughts: 

Number 1 - let's give me a pat on the back for finally reading a book off of my own bookshelves. 

Number 2 - this is the fourth book by Vowell that I've read and reviewed so I think it goes without saying that I'm a fan, but I'll say it anyway. Because this book did not disappoint. 

Vowell is both a political and historical nerd who doesn't even own rose-colored glasses when it comes to looking at the ways of the United States. Vowell has this about the days immediately following 9/11: 

"...when the newspaper I subscribe to published a full-page, full-color flag to clip out and hang in the window, how come I couldn’t? It took me a while to figure why I guiltily slid the flag into the recycling bin instead of taping it up. The meaning had changed; or let’s say it changed back. In the first day or two the flags were plastered everywhere, seeing them was heartening because they indicated that we were all in this sorrow together. The flags were purely emotional. Once we went to war, once the president announced that we were going to retaliate against the `evildoers,’ then the flag again represented what it usually represents, the government. I think that’s when the flags started making me nervous. The true American patriot is by definition skeptical of the government."

She seems to want to be patriotic but it's just so darn hard to do if you're an educated person who really knows and understands the history of this country. The thing about Vowell is that she brings us all of her truth with a terrific sense of humor and irony which I really enjoy. 

This one started off solid for me with "What He Said," which sees Vowell attending the 137th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. As an American history teacher's kid, who has visited Gettysburg (among countless (no, really, countless) others, I was caught up with mentions of Joshua Chamberlain, George Pickett, and Little Round Top. Vowell asks us to remember that the Lincoln we idolize was also a politician who was running for re-election when he gave that address. 

Another essay I enjoyed was "Ike Was A Handsome Man," where Vowell is "writing" to Bill Clinton about how his presidential library should be curated. She recommends following the lead of the JFK library, using Clinton's words and voice, rather than narrators as well as the Eisenhower library which emphasizes the highlights of what was accomplished. But she also recommends following the lead of the Lyndon Johnson library, which includes the lowlights as well as the highlights. 

 Vowell has this to say about being a nerd, the thing that has made her so successful: 

"Being a nerd, which is to say going too far, and caring too much about a subject, is the best way to make friends I know. For me, the spark that turns an acquaintance into a friends has usually been kindled by some shared enthusiasm like detective novels or Ulysses S. Grant." 

Me too, Sarah, me, too.