The Witches
Salem, 1692
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The Witches
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Narrated by:
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Eliza Foss
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By:
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Stacy Schiff
About this listen
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Cleopatra, the number one national best seller, unpacks the mystery of the Salem Witch Trials. It began in 1692, over an exceptionally raw Massachusetts winter, when a minister's daughter began to scream and convulse. It ended less than a year later, but not before 19 men and women had been hanged and an elderly man crushed to death.
The panic spread quickly, involving the most educated men and prominent politicians in the colony. Neighbors accused neighbors, parents and children accused each other. Aside from suffrage, the Salem Witch Trials represent the only moment when women played the central role in American history. In curious ways, the trials would shape the future republic.
As psychologically thrilling as it is historically seminal, The Witches is Stacy Schiff's account of this fantastical story - the first great American mystery unveiled fully for the first time by one of our most acclaimed historians.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2015 Stacy Schiff (P)2015 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Featured Article: 25 of the Best Witchy Listens to Cast a Spell for Halloween
Spooky season is upon us, and it's the perfect time of the year to sink into some wonderful witchy listens—although to be honest, we don't need an excuse to enjoy great stories about the fascinating world of witches. Whether you're into fantastical fiction tales of magic, the more practical informational guides on how to practice witchcraft, or historical tales about the real lives of famous witches, we've rounded up some of the very best witch audiobooks.
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A Delusion of Satan
- The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials
- By: Frances Hill
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 156
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 133
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Story4 out of 5 stars 133
During the bleak winter of 1692 in the rigid Puritan community of Salem Village, Massachusetts, a group of young girls began experiencing violent fits, allegedly tormented by Satan and the witches who worshipped him. From the girls' initial denouncing of an Indian slave, the accusations soon multiplied. In less than two years, 19 men and women were hanged, one was pressed to death, and over a hundred others were imprisoned and impoverished. This evenhanded and now-classic history illuminates the horrifying episode with visceral clarity.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A new take on the Witch Trials
- By Jolene Correll on 02-17-15
By: Frances Hill
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American Witches
- A Broomstick Tour through Four Centuries
- By: Susan Fair
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 623
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 562
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Story4 out of 5 stars 560
On a tour through history that's both whimsical and startling, we'll encounter 17th-century children flying around inside their New England home "like geese". We'll meet a father-son team of pious Puritans who embarked on a mission that involved undressing ladies and overseeing hangings. And on the eve of the Civil War, we'll accompany a reporter as he dons a dress and goes searching for witches in New York City's most dangerous neighborhoods.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Christan witch book
- By Nicole on 09-01-20
By: Susan Fair
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American Crucifixion
- The Murder of Joseph Smith and the Fate of the Mormon Church
- By: Alex Beam
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 174
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 153
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 154
On June 27, 1844, a mob stormed the jail in the dusty frontier town of Carthage, Illinois. Clamorous and angry, they were hunting down a man they saw as a grave threat to their otherwise quiet lives: The founding prophet of Mormonism, Joseph Smith. They wanted blood. At thirty-nine years old, Smith had already lived an outsized life. In addition to starting the Church of Latter-Day Saints and creating his own "Golden Bible" - the Book of Mormon - he had worked as a water-dowser and treasure hunter.
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5 out of 5 stars
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All religious histories are not created equal
- By Kendra on 07-01-14
By: Alex Beam
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New York Burning
- Liberty, Slavery, and Conspiracy in Eighteenth-Century Manhattan
- By: Jill Lepore
- Narrated by: Beth McDonald
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 82
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 54
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 54
Over a few weeks in 1741, 10 fires blazed across Manhattan. With each new fire, panicked whites saw more evidence of a slave uprising. Tried and convicted before the colony's Supreme Court, 13 black men were burned at the stake and 17 were hanged. Four whites, the alleged ringleaders of the plot, were also hanged, and seven more were pardoned on condition that they never set foot in New York again.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Interesting
- By Phillip Goodson on 05-15-09
By: Jill Lepore
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A Storm of Witchcraft
- The Salem Trials and the American Experience
- By: Emerson W. Baker
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 257
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 225
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 224
Beginning in January 1692, Salem Village in colonial Massachusetts witnessed the largest and most lethal outbreak of witchcraft in early America. Villagers - mainly young women - suffered from unseen torments that caused them to writhe, shriek, and contort their bodies, complaining of pins stuck into their flesh and of being haunted by specters. Believing that they suffered from assaults by an invisible spirit, the community began a hunt to track down those responsible for the demonic work.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wow....riveting and tragic
- By TeamDowager on 10-23-15
By: Emerson W. Baker
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God's Traitors
- Terror & Faith in Elizabethan England
- By: Jessie Childs
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 14 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 37
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 36
For many Catholics, the Elizabethan "Golden Age" was an alien concept. Following the criminalization of their religion by Elizabeth I, nearly 200 Catholics were executed, and many more wasted away in prison during her reign. Torture was used more than at any other time in England's history. While some bowed to the pressure of the government and new church, publicly conforming to acts of Protestant worship, others did not - and quickly found themselves living in a state of siege.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Well-researched, well-written
- By Charles on 03-23-15
By: Jessie Childs
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Duel with the Devil
- The True Story of How Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr Teamed Up to Take on America's First Sensational Murder Mystery
- By: Paul Collins
- Narrated by: Mark Peckham
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 190
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 168
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 169
In the closing days of 1799, the United States was still a young republic, its uncertain future contested by the two major political parties of the day: the well-moneyed Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, and the populist Republicans, led by Aaron Burr. The two finest lawyers in New York, Burr and Hamilton were bitter rivals both in and out of the courtroom, and as the next election approached - with Manhattan likely to be the swing district on which the presidency would hinge - their animosity reached a fever pitch.
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4 out of 5 stars
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The Trial of the Century
- By Jean on 09-06-15
By: Paul Collins
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The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara
- By: David I. Kertzer
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 32
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 32
Bologna, 1858: A police posse, acting on the orders of a Catholic inquisitor, invades the home of a Jewish merchant, Momolo Mortara, wrenches his crying six-year-old son from his arms, and rushes him off in a carriage bound for Rome. His mother is so distraught that she collapses and has to be taken to a neighbor's house, but her weeping can be heard across the city. With this terrifying scene - one that would haunt this family forever - David I. Kertzer begins his fascinating investigation of the dramatic kidnapping.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Too much detail
- By L. WILLIAM on 03-03-24
By: David I. Kertzer
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The Return of Martin Guerre
- By: Natalie Zemon Davis
- Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
- Length: 3 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 110
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 90
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 89
The Inventive Peasant Arnaud du Tilh had almost persuaded the learned judges at the Parlement of Toulouse, when on a summer's day in 1560 a man swaggered into the court on a wooden leg, denounced Arnaud, and reestablished his claim to the identity, property, and wife of Martin Guerre. The astonishing case captured the imagination of the Continent. Natalie Zemon Davis reconstructs the lives of ordinary people, in a sparkling way that reveals the hidden attachments and sensibilities of nonliterate 16th-century villagers.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Intriguing court documents
- By metAlApollo on 12-04-24
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The Sewing Girl's Tale
- A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America
- By: John Wood Sweet
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 136
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 109
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 108
On a moonless night in the summer of 1793 a crime was committed in the back room of a New York brothel—the kind of crime that even victims usually kept secret. Instead, seventeen-year-old seamstress Lanah Sawyer did what virtually no one in US history had done before: she charged a gentleman with rape. Her accusation sparked a raw courtroom drama and a relentless struggle for vindication that threatened both Lanah’s and her assailant’s lives.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great for history buffs!
- By LibertyHillbilly on 02-09-23
By: John Wood Sweet
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America Bewitched
- The Story of Witchcraft After Salem
- By: Owen Davies
- Narrated by: J. Paul Guimont
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 29
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 26
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
America Bewitched is the first major history of witchcraft in America - from the Salem witch trials of 1692 to the present day. The infamous Salem trials are etched into the consciousness of modern America, the human toll a reminder of the dangers of intolerance and persecution. The refrain 'Remember Salem!' was invoked frequently over the ensuing centuries. As time passed, the trials became a milepost measuring the distance America had progressed from its colonial past, its victims now the righteous and their persecutors the shamed.
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5 out of 5 stars
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excellent book
- By BraveSparrow on 07-30-16
By: Owen Davies
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Lady Killers
- Deadly Women Throughout History
- By: Tori Telfer
- Narrated by: Jaime Lamchick
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 98
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 88
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 88
When you think of serial killers throughout history, the names that come to mind are ones like Jack the Ripper, John Wayne Gacy, and Ted Bundy. But what about Tillie Klimek, Moulay Hassan, Kate Bender? The narrative we’re comfortable with is the one where women are the victims of violent crime, not the perpetrators. In fact, serial killers are thought to be so universally, overwhelmingly male that in 1998, FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood infamously declared in a homicide conference, “There are no female serial killers.”
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2 out of 5 stars
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An ode to arsenic
- By 🔥 Phx17 🔥 on 03-04-24
By: Tori Telfer
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Fiend
- The Shocking True Story of America's Youngest Serial Killer
- By: Harold Schechter
- Narrated by: Kyle Tait
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 244
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 214
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 214
When 14-year-old Jesse Pomeroy was arrested in 1874, a nightmarish reign of terror over an unsuspecting city came to an end. "The Boston Boy Fiend" was imprisoned at last. But the complex questions sparked by his ghastly crime spree - the hows and whys of vicious juvenile crime - were as relevant in the so-called Age of Innocence as they are today.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Graphic descriptions of child torture
- By mobius_spider on 11-13-20
By: Harold Schechter
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Psycho USA
- Famous American Killers You Never Heard Of
- By: Harold Schechter
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 215
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 199
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Story4 out of 5 stars 197
In the horrifying annals of American crime, the infamous names of brutal killers such as Bundy, Dahmer, Gacy, and Berkowitz are writ large in the imaginations of a public both horrified and hypnotized by their monstrous, murderous acts. But for every celebrity psychopath who's gotten ink for spilling blood, there's a bevy of all-but-forgotten homicidal fiends studding the bloody margins of US history.
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4 out of 5 stars
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True crime enthusiast's dream
- By Athelsten on 08-24-17
By: Harold Schechter
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The Faithful Executioner
- Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century
- By: Joel F. Harrington
- Narrated by: James Gillies
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 733
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 672
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 666
Based on the rare and until now overlooked journal of a Renaissance-era executioner, the noted historian Joel F. Harrington's The Faithful Executioner takes us deep inside the alien world and thinking of Meister Frantz Schmidt of Nuremberg, who, during 45 years as a professional executioner, personally put to death 394 individuals and tortured, flogged, or disfigured many hundreds more. But the picture that emerges of Schmidt from his personal papers is not that of a monster. Could a man who routinely practiced such cruelty also be insightful?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent
- By James on 03-30-18
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The Crucible
- By: Arthur Miller
- Narrated by: Stacy Keach, Richard Dreyfuss, Ed Begley Jr., and others
- Length: 1 hr and 58 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,570
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,273
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,270
In the rigid theocracy of Salem, Massachusetts, rumors that women are practicing witchcraft galvanize the town. In a searing portrait of a community engulfed by panic—with ruthless prosecutors, and neighbors eager to testify against neighbor—The Crucible famously mirrors the anti-Communist hysteria that held the United States in its grip in the 1950’s.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Abridged Version
- By Michael G. Stoffel on 05-07-12
By: Arthur Miller
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The Wordy Shipmates
- By: Sarah Vowell
- Narrated by: Sarah Vowell
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,910
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,175
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,169
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, where "righteousness" is rhymed with "wilderness," to a Mayflower-themed waterslide. Throughout, The Wordy Shipmates is rich in historical fact, humorous insight, and social commentary by one of America's most celebrated voices.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I love Sarah Vowell
- By Audiophile on 10-25-09
By: Sarah Vowell