Sustained Vowell

Sarah Vowell, the essayist and NPR darling who is easily as known for her cartoony voice as for her acerbic take on American history (she voiced daughter Violet in the animated film The Incredibles), arrives at the Grove in West Hollywood to discuss and sign her fifth book, The Wordy Shipmates. In previous essay collections Vowell, who has become a kind of laureate for the David Sedaris crowd, uses her tart wit and an arsenal of pop-culture references to make the historical personal — drawing comparisons between the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving and her Montana-based family descending on her for the holiday, documenting a road trip along the Trail of Tears, and indulging in her love of both political murderers and historical tourism in the book Assassination Vacation. In her latest offering, Vowell has chosen to meditate on the satire-worthy Puritans. We may never look at our somber, buckled-shoe-loving, witch-purging 17th-century ancestors the same way again. This is a ticketed Vroman's Bookstore event. See vromansbookstore.com for more information.
Thu., Oct. 16, 7 p.m., 2008