The Partly Cloudy Keith

Read from Monday, February 7th, to Wednesday, February 9th.

The Partly Cloudy Patriot, by Sarah Vowell, the second of my Sarah Vowell books I got as Christmas presents.  This book is not about a single topic, but more of a collections of essays she wrote during the late 1990's and the early 2000's.  The essay topics are varied, but all are insights into her own personal history, as well as the history of this country and some of the more prominent people and events.  Sarah is experiencing the history herself through her personal reflections.  Once again, her funny, dry, and self-deprecating humor is on display, and the essays are all pretty upbeat, easy to read, and fun.

Vowell discusses her views on the Gettysburg Address, Teddy Roosevelt and North Dakota, Thanksgiving with her family and Ellis Island, basketball, antique maps, Rosa Parks, Tom Cruise, the underground cafeteria in Carlsbad Caverns, Canadian Mounties, and presidential libraries and legacies.  She spends a lot of time talking about Al Gore, his nerdiness and personality, and how he managed to mess up his message in the 2000 election.  The 2000 election is seen as the prominent event in the book, and she discusses her patriotism, and her right to question her government.  It is always right to be asking questions, and not take things at face value. 

Her liberal values are on full display, and she makes it clear.  It is good that I agree with her, or else this book could be difficult to read.  It is also interesting to see what people were writing about a decade ago, back when the Clinton sex scandal was breaking, Gore vs. Bush, and then September 11th and the wars that followed.  Sarah Vowell is funny, extremely smart, and persuasive.  This was a very lighthearted, easy, but intellectual read nonetheless.  Three and a half out of five stars.