Are you eager to learn more about the Netherlands, its people, art, and culture? Below is a collection of titles that you might find interesting. The subject matter ranges from national character and culture to history to fictional and non-fiction stories about the country’s past and its art. The titles can be ordered online and probably found through your local bookstore or library.
Why the Dutch are Different: A Journey into the Hidden Heart of the Netherlands, Ben Coates (2015). “The first book to offer an in depth look at hidden Holland and the fascinating people that live there, Why the Dutch are Different is an entertaining book about a country unlike any other. The Netherlands are a tiny nation that punch above their weight on the world stage, where prostitutes are entitled to sick pay and prisons are closing due to lack of demand […] A travelogue, a history and a personal account of a changing country – Ben Coates tells the tale of an Englishman who went Dutch and liked it.” (from Goodreads)
Amsterdam: A History of the World’s Most Liberal City, Russell Shorto (2013). “In this effortlessly erudite account, Russell Shorto traces the idiosyncratic evolution of Amsterdam, showing how such disparate elements as herring anatomy, naked Anabaptists parading through the streets, and an intimate gathering in a sixteenth-century wine-tasting room had a profound effect on Dutch-and world-history. Weaving in his own experiences of his adopted home, Shorto provides an ever-surprising, intellectually engaging story of Amsterdam from the building of its first canals in the 1300s, through its brutal struggle for independence, its golden age as a vast empire, to its complex present in which its cherished ideals of liberalism are under siege.” (from Goodreads)
The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age, Simon Schama (1987). “Drawing on a vast array of period documents and sumptuously reproduced art, Schama re-creates, in precise and loving detail, a nation’s mental furniture. He tells of bloody uprisings and beached whales, of the cult of hygiene and the plague of tobacco, of thrifty housewives and profligate tulip-speculators. He tells us how the Dutch celebrated themselves and how they were slandered by their enemies. The Embarrassment of Riches is a book that set a standard for its discipline; it throbs with life on every page.” (from Goodreads)
Tulip Fever, Deborah Moggach (1999). “A tale of art, beauty, lust, greed, deception and retribution — set in a refined society ablaze with tulip fever […] Deborah Moggach has created the rarest of novels – a lush, lyrical work of fiction that is also compulsively readable. Seldom has a novel so vividly evoked a time, a place, and a passion.” (from Goodreads)
Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier (1999). “Girl with a Pearl Earring centers on Vermeer’s prosperous Delft household during the 1660s. When Griet, the novel’s quietly perceptive heroine, is hired as a servant, turmoil follows. First, the 16-year-old narrator becomes increasingly intimate with her master. Then Vermeer employs her as his assistant—and ultimately has Griet sit for him as a model.” (from Goodreads)
The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank (1947). More commonly known as The Diary of Anne Frank. If you haven’t read it, do.
Also, let’s not forget films and TV. A smattering of the former include Zwartboek (Black Book), Antonia (Antonia’s Line), De Oost (The East), Ciske de Rat (Ciske the Rat), Alles is Liefde (Love is All), and Loving Vincent. They range from stories of the Netherlands in WWII to a Dutch “feminist fairytale,” an investigation into Dutch colonialism in Indonesia, an affecting film about a child’s coming of age, a romantic comedy set in Amsterdam in the Christmas season, to a groundbreaking paen to Vincent Van Gogh. As for television, I found the BBC’s The Miniaturist really captivating for its extraordinary sets and costumes as well as its story.
Happy reading and viewing. Tot snel in Nederland! See you soon in the Netherlands!
