Sarah Vowell

Published works

Vowell is a New York Times bestselling author^[5] of seven nonfiction books on American history and culture. Her most recent book is Lafayette in the Somewhat United States (2015), an account of the young French aristocrat who became George Washington's trusted officer and friend, and afterward an American celebrity––the Marquis de Lafayette.

In a review forThe New York Times, Charles P. Pierce wrote, "Vowell wanders through the history of the American Revolution and its immediate aftermath, using Lafayette's involvement in the war as a map, and bringing us all along in her perambulations… and doing it with a wink."^[6] NPR reviewer Colin Dwyer wrote, "It's awfully refreshing to see Vowell bring our founders down from their lofty pedestals. In her telling, they're just men again, not the gods we've long since made of them."^[7]

She also wrote Unfamiliar Fishes (2011), which discusses the Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the Newlands Resolution. In The New York Times, Michiko Kakutani called it a "relentlessly casual," "willfully cutesy-pie book" that is "less history than performance art" that is "annoying in the extreme, calculated to amuse or titillate, while skimping on depth and context."^[8] "Unfamiliar Fishes is a big gulp of a book, printed as an extended essay", wrote Allegra Goodman in The Washington Post. "Lacking section or chapter breaks, Vowell's quirky history lurches from one anecdote to the next. These are often entertaining, but in the aggregate they begin to sound the same, veering toward stand-up and a shaggy dog story—more David Sedaris than David McCullough." Although Goodman also wrote that "Vowell tells a good tale" with "shrewd observations", she found that "the narrative wears thin where casual turns cute and cute threatens to turn glib."^[9]

Vowell's earlier book, The Wordy Shipmates (2008), analyzes the settlement of the New England Puritans in America and their contributions to American history.

Her book Assassination Vacation (2005) describes a road trip to tourist sites devoted to the murders of presidents Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley.

She is the author of two essay collections, The Partly Cloudy Patriot (2002) and Take the Cannoli (2000). Her first book Radio On: A Listener's Diary (1997), is her year-long diary of listening to the radio in 1995.

Her writing has been published in The Village Voice, Esquire, GQ, Spin, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and the SF Weekly, and she has been a regular contributor to the online magazine Salon.^[10] She was one of the original contributors to McSweeney's, also participating in many of the quarterly's readings and shows.

In 2005, Vowell served as a guest columnist for The New York Times during several weeks in July, briefly filling in for Maureen Dowd. Vowell also served as a guest columnist in February 2006, and again in April 2006.^[11]

In 2008, Vowell contributed an essay about Montana to the book State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America.

Public appearances and lectures

Vowell signing books after a lecture at Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas, 2010

Vowell has appeared on television shows such as Nightline, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,^[12] The Colbert Report, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Late Show with David Letterman, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.^[13]

In April 2006, Vowell served as the keynote speaker at the 27th Annual Kentucky Women Writers Conference.^[14] In August and September 2006, she toured the United States as part of the Revenge of the Book Eaters national tour, which benefits the children's literacy centers 826NYC, 826CHI, 826 Valencia, 826LA, 826 Michigan, and 826 Seattle.

Vowell also provided commentary in Robert Wuhl's 2005 Assume the Position HBO specials.

Voice and acting work

Vowell's first book, which had radio as its central subject, caught the attention of This American Life host Ira Glass, and it led to Vowell becoming a frequent contributor to the show. Many of Vowell's essays have had their genesis as segments on the show.

In 2004, Vowell provided the voice of Violet Parr, a shy teenager, in the Pixar animated film The Incredibles, and returned to her role for the film's sequel, Incredibles 2, in 2018.^[15] Additionally, Vowell has also lent her voice to the character for various related video games^[1] and Disney on Ice presentations in the years following the film's release. The makers of The Incredibles discovered Vowell from episode 81 – Guns^[16] This American Life, where she and her father fire a homemade cannon. Pixar made a test animation for Violet using audio from that sequence, which was included on the DVD of The Incredibles. She also wrote and was featured in a documentary included on the same DVD entitled Vowellett - An Essay by Sarah Vowell, where she reflects on the differences between being superhero Violet and being an author of history books on the subject of assassinated presidents, and what it means to her nephew Owen. Vowell also played Fernanda, Theacher Aunt Deborah and Mary Kelly in The School Future.

Vowell provided commentary in "Murder at the Fair: The Assassination of President McKinley", which is part of the History Channel miniseries, 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America.

She is featured prominently in the They Might Be Giants documentary Gigantic. She also participated on the DVD commentary for the movie, along with the film's director and They Might Be Giants' John Linnell and John Flansburgh.

In September 2006, Vowell appeared as a minor character in the ABC drama Six Degrees. She appeared in an episode of HBO's Bored to Death, as an interviewer in a bar. In 2010, Vowell appeared briefly in the film Please Give, as a shopper.^[1]

On November 17, 2011, Vowell briefly joined The Daily Show as the new Senior Historical Context Correspondent.

Film

Television

Video games

Short film