conversations.from: human
conversations.value: a description for a book titled The Wordy Shipmates about American, Time, Esquire with the genre: Biographies & Memoirs, Historical
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: the author is a contributing editor for public radio's This American Life and has written for Time, Esquire, GQ, Spin, Salon, McSweeneys, The Village Voice, and the Los Angeles Times. She is the author of Radio On, Take the Cannoli, and The Partly Cloudy Patriot. She lives in New York City.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the first four paragraphs for this book
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The Wordy Shipmates
  Vane, who is still governor at the start of the meeting, protests in vain. Wheelwright's sentencing is postponed until the next court in May, though it will be postponed again. By the end of the meeting, Winthrop is reelected governor, which is a rebuke of Vane, and, by extension, of Wheelwright and Hutchinson.
  Also in May 1637 the court issues an order, writes Winthrop, "to keep out all such persons as might be dangerous to the commonwealth." And who will be the arbiters of which persons are or are not dangerous? The magistrates, of course. This outrageous immigration policy is meant expressly to bar the Hutchinson and Wheelwright camp from importing supporters to their cause. Vane, who was voted out as governor but remains as one of the deputies (and one of Anne Hutchinson's best friends), is infuriated by this policy. After Winthrop defends it, Vane writes in response, "This law we judge to be most wicked and sinful." Among his objections to the law, Vane includes the fact that it gives the power "to expel and reject those which are most eminent Christians, if they suit not with the disposition of the magistrates. One of Vane's more basic, and legally correct, arguments against the law is that it could theoretically bar the king himself from setting foot in this part of his own kingdom. Which is a violation of the Charter's charge for the colonists to make no law "repugnant to the laws of England."
  The Bay Colony's reactionary immigration legislation is not unlike reactionary immigration legislation throughout history: it exposes a people's deepest fears. For example, the Anarchist Exclusion Act of 1903, passed by Congress to bar anarchists from the United States after an anarchist assassinated President McKinley. Or the not particularly Magna Carta-friendly clause in the USA Patriot Act of 2001 allowing for illegal immigrants to be detained indefinitely and without legal counsel for up to six months if they are suspected of terrorism, or simply have terrorist "ties."
  Behind every bad law, a deep fear. And in 1637, the two things panicking the leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony the most are the Pequot and Anne Hutchinson. After the Pequot are burned alive in May, Winthrop and his fellow magistrates have one down and one to go.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Add another sentence about Christians, Vane's, Roger.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The Wordy Shipmates
  Vane, who is still governor at the start of the meeting, protests in vain. Wheelwright's sentencing is postponed until the next court in May, though it will be postponed again. By the end of the meeting, Winthrop is reelected governor, which is a rebuke of Vane, and, by extension, of Wheelwright and Hutchinson. 
  Also in May 1637 the court issues an order, writes Winthrop, "to keep out all such persons as might be dangerous to the commonwealth. " And who will be the arbiters of which persons are or are not dangerous? The magistrates, of course. This outrageous immigration policy is meant expressly to bar the Hutchinson and Wheelwright camp from importing supporters to their cause. Vane, who was voted out as governor but remains as one of the deputies (and one of Anne Hutchinson's best friends), is infuriated by this policy. After Winthrop defends it, Vane writes in response, "This law we judge to be most wicked and sinful. " Among his objections to the law, Vane includes the fact that it gives the power "to expel and reject those which are most eminent Christians, if they suit not with the disposition of the magistrates. " Vane's point is dangerously close to Roger Williams's recognition that Christianity is inherently divisive and when it is the state religion, the Christians in power tend to persecute other kinds of Christians with whom they disagree. One of Vane's more basic, and legally correct, arguments against the law is that it could theoretically bar the king himself from setting foot in this part of his own kingdom. Which is a violation of the Charter's charge for the colonists to make no law "repugnant to the laws of England. "
  The Bay Colony's reactionary immigration legislation is not unlike reactionary immigration legislation throughout history: it exposes a people's deepest fears. For example, the Anarchist Exclusion Act of 1903, passed by Congress to bar anarchists from the United States after an anarchist assassinated President McKinley. Or the not particularly Magna Carta-friendly clause in the USA Patriot Act of 2001 allowing for illegal immigrants to be detained indefinitely and without legal counsel for up to six months if they are suspected of terrorism, or simply have terrorist "ties. "
  Behind every bad law, a deep fear. And in 1637, the two things panicking the leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony the most are the Pequot and Anne Hutchinson. After the Pequot are burned alive in May, Winthrop and his fellow magistrates have one down and one to go.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: three more paragraphs
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Winthrop steps in, saying, "I am persuaded that the revelation she brings forth is delusion." There's a surprise.
  Finally, in one sentence, Cotton sells out Hutchinson by recalling hearing another of her claims to predict the future. He says, "I remember she said she should be delivered by God's providence, whether now or at another time she knew not."
  Mrs. Hutchinson for these things that appear before us is unfit for our society, and if it be the mind of the court that she shall be banished out of our liberties and imprisoned till she be sent away, let them hold up their hands.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the last sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Winthrop steps in, saying, "I am persuaded that the revelation she brings forth is delusion." There's a surprise.
  Finally, in one sentence, Cotton sells out Hutchinson by recalling hearing another of her claims to predict the future. He says, "I remember she said she should be delivered by God's providence, whether now or at another time she knew not."
  Mrs.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the last four paragraphs. End with the sentence ' Abrams; Brad Bird; Eric Bogosian; Michael Comeau and Jennifer Fauxsmith at the Massachusetts Archives; Patrick Daughters; Jeremy Dibbell and Elaine Grublin at the Massachusetts Historical Society; Shelley Dick; Dave Eggers; Michael and Jamie Giacchino; Eric Gilliland; Jake Gyllenhaal; Daniel Handler; John Hodgman; Spike Jonze; Ben Karlin; Catherine Keener; Nick Laird; Lisa Leingang; Greil and Jenny Marcus; Tom McCarthy; Clyde, Dermot, Ellen, Kieran, and Michael Mulroney for their hospitality on Cape Cod; Jim Nelson; John Oliver; John Petrizzo; Christopher Quinn; David Rakoff; David Rosenthal; Rodney Rothman; David Sedaris; John-Mario Sevilla; Jonathan Marc Sherman; Zadie Smith; the Family Sontheimer; Pat and Janie Vowell for parenting; Gina Way; Wendy Weil; and Stu Zicherman.'.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Then he boils down the two phrases from "A Model of Christian Charity" that mean the most to him: "We must always consider, [Winthrop] said, that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us."
  I fall for those words every time I hear them, even though they're dangerous, even though they're arrogant, even though they're rude.
  In the ten years he's been my editor and friend, Geoffrey Kloske has never let me down. The words "I'm so lucky" and "breathing down my neck" spring to mind.
  Also helpful and/or encouraging: J. J. Abrams; Brad Bird; Eric Bogosian; Michael Comeau and Jennifer Fauxsmith at the Massachusetts Archives; Patrick Daughters; Jeremy Dibbell and Elaine Grublin at the Massachusetts Historical Society; Shelley Dick; Dave Eggers; Michael and Jamie Giacchino; Eric Gilliland; Jake Gyllenhaal; Daniel Handler; John Hodgman; Spike Jonze; Ben Karlin; Catherine Keener; Nick Laird; Lisa Leingang; Greil and Jenny Marcus; Tom McCarthy; Clyde, Dermot, Ellen, Kieran, and Michael Mulroney for their hospitality on Cape Cod; Jim Nelson; John Oliver; John Petrizzo; Christopher Quinn; David Rakoff; David Rosenthal; Rodney Rothman; David Sedaris; John-Mario Sevilla; Jonathan Marc Sherman; Zadie Smith; the Family Sontheimer; Pat and Janie Vowell for parenting; Gina Way; Wendy Weil; and Stu Zicherman.