The Partly Cloudy Patriot

The Partly Cloudy Patriot: In The Partly Cloudy Patriot, Sarah Vowell travels through the American past and, in doing so, investigates the dusty, bumpy roads of her own life. In this insightful and funny collection of personal stories Vowell - widely hailed for her inimitable narratives on public radio's This American Life - 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 audiobook, capturing Vowell's memorable wit and her keen social commentary.

• The Partly Cloudy Patriot (Unabridged) - iTunes Audiobook

  Price

  $15.95 Download on iTunes
  (as of 2013-05-13 7:20 PDT)

  Publisher

  Simon & Schuster Audio

  Shop

  Apple iTunes Store

  Format

  iTunes Audiobook

  Publish Date

  Sep 26, 2003

  Sales Rank

  194

  Length

  5 hours 17 minutes

  Narrator

  Sarah Vowell, Conan O'Brien, Seth Green, Stephen Colbert, and more

  Presented by

  Audible.com

  Product Description / Editorial Review

  In The Partly Cloudy Patriot, Sarah Vowell travels through the American past and, in doing so, investigates the dusty, bumpy roads of her own life. In this insightful and funny collection of personal stories Vowell - widely hailed for her inimitable narratives on public radio's This American Life - 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 audiobook, capturing Vowell's memorable wit and her keen social commentary. This audiobook is read by Sarah Vowell, Conan O'Brien, Seth Green, Stephen Colbert, David Cross, Paul Begala, Michael Chabon, and Norman Lear.
  
  "This is a humorous, insightful, and informative look at one individual's sense of patriotism." (Booklist) "Droll, intelligent, and persuasive." (Entertainment Weekly) — Source: Apple iTunes Store

  

• The Partly Cloudy Patriot (Unabridged) - Digital Download

  Price

  $26.00 $18.20 (30% Off) Buy from Audible.com
  (as of 2010-06-09 0:00 PDT)

  Publisher

  Simon & Schuster Audio

  Shop

  Audible

  Format

  Digital Download

  Publish Date

  Sep 26, 2003

  ISBN-13

  9780743533485

  Keywords

  This American Life, TAL

  Length

  5 hours 16 minutes

  Narrator

  Sarah Vowell, Conan O'Brien, Seth Green, Stephen Colbert, and more

  Preview

  mwprealmp3

  Promotion

  Sign up AudibleListener® Gold and Download The Partly Cloudy Patriot (Unabridged) for Special Offer Price: $7.49

  Product Description / Editorial Review

  Sarah Vowell travels through the American past and, in doing so, investigates the dusty, bumpy roads of her own life. — Source: Audible

  

• The Partly Cloudy Patriot - Paperback

  Price

  $15.00 $3.40 (77% Off) Buy from Amazon.com
  (as of 2013-05-18 13:50 PDT)

  Rating

  4.0 (69 reviews)

  Publisher

  Simon & Schuster

  Shop

  Amazon

  Format

  Paperback

  Publish Date

  Sep 23, 2003

  Sales Rank

  116633

  ISBN

  0743243803

  ISBN-13

  9780743243803

  Creator

  Katherine Streeter

  Pages

  197

  Search best deal and alternate versions of "The Partly Cloudy Patriot" in US (United States), UK (United Kingdom) and CA (Canada)

  • The Partly Cloudy Patriot (Paperback)
  • The Partly Cloudy Patriot (Kindle Edition)
  • The Partly Cloudy Patriot (Hardcover)
  • Partly Cloudy Patriot (Hardcover)
  • The Partly Cloudy Patriot (Audio CD)
  • The Partly Cloudy Patriot (Hardcover)
  • The Partly Cloudy Patriot (Audio Cassette)

  Product Description / Editorial Review

  Sarah Vowell travels through the American past and, in doing so, investigates the dusty, bumpy roads of her own life. In this insightful and funny collection of personal stories Vowell -- widely hailed for her inimitable stories on public radio's This American Life -- 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. — Source: Amazon

  

• The Partly Cloudy Patriot - Paperback

  Price

  $11.52 Buy from Walmart
  (as of 2013-05-13 7:20 PDT)

  Publisher

  Simon & Schuster

  Shop

  Walmart

  Format

  Paperback

  Publish Date

  Sep 2003

  ISBN

  0743243803

  ISBN-13

  9780743243803

  Pages

  224

  Shipping Weight (in pounds)

  0.47

  Product in Inches (L x W x H)

  5.56 x 0.64 x 8.56

  Product Description / Editorial Review

  The author shares her perspective on such topics as the 2000 election, present-day civil rights activists, and the relationship between the United States and Canada. — Source: Walmart

  

• The Partly Cloudy Patriot - Paperback

  Price

  $15.00 $10.80 (28% Off) Buy from Barnes & Noble
  (as of 2013-05-13 7:20 PDT)

  Rating

  4.0 (16 reviews)

  Publisher

  Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group

  Shop

  Barnes & Noble

  Format

  Paperback

  Publish Date

  Sep 2003

  Sales Rank

  65759

  ISBN

  0743243803

  ISBN-13

  9780743243803

  Pages

  224

  Edition Description

  Reprint

  Alternate Versions

  • eBook - $11.9
  • MP3 Book - Unabridged - $13.2

  Biography

  Hip, irreverent, and with a voice that NPR fans of This American Life instantly perk up to, Sarah Vowell makes both readers and listeners laugh out loud with her wry, comic observations on everything from politics to pop culture.

  Book Magazine

  Neurotic and witty, this book collects fragments of Vowell's experience as an American. The author has a unique perspective on some of the nation's most celebrated events and the places where they occurred, all filtered through the prism of her occasionally weird upbringing in a family of "homebody claustrophobes" enveloped in an "Impenetrable Shield of Melancholy." The book presents a varied and engaging portrait of the author as a product of more than 200 years of American history. Though she portrays herself as a "crabby cheerleader," Vowell is a great lover of her homeland. Refreshingly devoid of pretense, these pieces will likely provide solace to those fellow citizens who are both proud and deeply embarrassed to be living in America.

  From the Publisher

  Sarah Vowell travels through the American past and, in doing so, investigates the dusty, bumpy roads of her own life. In this insightful and funny collection of personal stories Vowell widely hailed for her inimitable stories on public radio's This American Life 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.
  

  Library Journal

  Part social commentary and part standup comedy routine for the intellectually inclined, this collection of essays from Vowell, a contributing editor to NPR's This American Life, mines history and current events for insights into American life. Topics range from the quirky like an exploration of the value of pointless arcade games and Tom Cruise's "breakthrough" in Magnolia to a revealing example of how Al Gore's "Pinocchio problem" may have been manufactured during the 2000 election and the author's personal reflections on patriotism post- September 11. Interspersed are musings on presidential libraries, U.S./Canadian differences, and being a twin, as well as a history buff's view of why the field is significant. Most of these essays have appeared in print or been broadcast on NPR, but this compilation emphasizes a theme and provides an interesting contrast between pre- and post-attack life perspectives. The author's Gen-X frame of reference is clear, but the book should appeal to a wider audience of armchair historians and others who enjoy irreverent social commentary. The author wrote the similarly brash Take the Cannoli: Stories from the New World and Radio On: A Listener's Diary. Highly recommended for large public libraries. Antoinette Brinkman, MLS, Evansville, IN

  Synopsis

  In The Partly Cloudy Patriot, Sarah Vowell travels through the American past and, in doing so, investigates the dusty, bumpy roads of her own life. In this insightful and funny collection of personal stories Vowell -- widely hailed for her inimitable narratives on public radio's This American Life -- 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...

  The New Yorker

  Sarah Vowell, a contributing editor to "This American Life," on National Public Radio, knows that she's not a fair-weather patriot -- at least not the kind Thomas Paine disparaged in the first installment of the "American Crisis" papers, which was written in the fall of 1776, when Washington's troops were retreating. But she can't get behind the idea of citizenship as sing-along that has been prevalent since September 11th. The Partly Cloudy Patriot (Simon & Schuster), her latest book, is a collection of radio segments and magazine pieces. Vowell, a charismatic misanthrope, repeats the mantra "We the people, we the people" to keep from freaking out on the humid, overstuffed subway. She also thinks about the Civil War "all the time, every day," vacations in Salem, and takes walking tours of Thomas Jefferson's Paris years. Fashioning herself as Clinton's "crabby little cheerleader," she admits a guilty pleasure in voting. Of the booth: "I love it in there. I drag it out, leisurely punching the names I want as if sipping whiskey in front of a fire."

  
  — Source: Barnes & Noble

  

• The Partly Cloudy Patriot (Unabridged) - Digital Download

  Price

  £14.30 £10.01 (30% Off) Buy from Audible UK
  (as of 2010-04-01 0:00 PDT)

  Publisher

  Simon & Schuster Audio

  Shop

  Audible UK

  Format

  Digital Download

  Publish Date

  Sep 1, 2002

  ISBN-13

  9780743548137

  Keywords

  This American Life, TAL

  Product Description / Editorial Review

  Sarah Vowell travels through the American past and, in doing so, investigates the dusty, bumpy roads of her own life. — Source: Audible UK

  

• The Partly Cloudy Patriot - Apple iBook for iPad/iPhone 4

  Price

  $11.99 Download in iBooks (iPad/iPhone 4)
  (as of 2013-05-13 7:20 PDT)

  Publisher

  Simon & Schuster

  Shop

  Apple iBookstore

  Format

  Apple iBook for iPad/iPhone 4

  Category

  Literary Criticism

  Seller

  Seller:Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc.

  Language

  Language:English

  Print Length

  Print Length:208 Pages

  This product is available on iPad/iPhone 4 with iBooks

  iBooks is an amazing new way to download and read books. iBooks is designed exclusively for iPad/iPhone 4. You can download iBooks from the App Store on iPad/iPhone 4 or from iTunes on your computer. Search deals on iPad and accessories

  Product Description / Editorial Review

  Sarah Vowell travels through the American past and, in doing so, investigates the dusty, bumpy roads of her own life. In this insightful and funny collection of personal stories Vowell -- widely hailed for her inimitable stories on public radio's This American Life -- 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. — Source: Apple iBookstore