Just Announced Sarah Vowell at Boswell Book Company

Through her work on This American Life and books like Assassination Vacation and The Wordy Shipmates, Sarah Vowell has established herself as a wry yet passionate chronicler of what it means to be an American—and our most reverent/irreverent historian since Sherman first set sail with Mr. Peabody. Vowell is enamored with obscure, seemingly random details and pop culture-damaged free association—whether she’s spinning a breezy travelogue around the death beds of murdered presidents or examining the annexation of Hawaii through references to Footloose and Bon Jovi—as she does in her latest book, Unfamiliar Fishes—which gives her essays an affable, twinkle-eyed charm. That’s even more evident at public readings, where Vowell’s droll, instantly recognizable voice recasts otherwise tedious history lessons as a coffeehouse conversation with a particularly witty friend.

Milwaukee will get a chance to enjoy that conversation firsthand when Vowell stops by Boswell Book Company March 9. Tickets are $15, and are good for admission and a signed copy of Unfamiliar Fishes. A $10 gift card will be available in lieu of the book.