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Amsterdam: A History of the World's Most Liberal City Kindle Edition
Tourists know Amsterdam as a picturesque city of low-slung brick houses lining tidy canals; student travelers know it for its legal brothels and hash bars; art lovers know it for Rembrandt's glorious portraits.
But the deeper history of Amsterdam, what makes it one of the most fascinating places on earth, is bound up in its unique geography-the constant battle of its citizens to keep the sea at bay and the democratic philosophy that this enduring struggle fostered. Amsterdam is the font of liberalism, in both its senses. Tolerance for free thinking and free love make it a place where, in the words of one of its mayors, "craziness is a value." But the city also fostered the deeper meaning of liberalism, one that profoundly influenced America: political and economic freedom. Amsterdam was home not only to religious dissidents and radical thinkers but to the world's first great global corporation.
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.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherVintage
- Publication dateOctober 22, 2013
- File size14469 KB
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Review
—The Seattle Times
“Rich and eventful. . . . [A] book that easily fuses large cultural trends with intimately personal stories.”
—The New York Times
“An absorbing history of a fascinating place.”
—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“[A] masterpiece.”
—The Daily Beast
“Engaging new history. . . . It brims with the sights, smells and sounds of a nearly thousand-year-old bustling, mercantile city. . . . Countless books have been written about Holland’s capital city. . . . [Shorto’s] contribution stands as a sparkling addition to the lot.”
—Associated Press
“Shorto’s brilliant follow-up to his previous book on Dutch Manhattan (The Island at the Center of the World) is an expertly told history of a city of new, shocking freedoms and the tough-minded people that developed them.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Insightful history. . . . Mr. Shorto masterfully describes how Amsterdam was built in only a few generations by reclaiming water from the sea, literally by hand in the 1600s. And he brings to life how the city attracted—with promises of freedom and tolerance—the most energetic people from all over Europe to create a free civic and economic society that became a model for the American Republic a century later.”
—Jeff Bewkes, CEO of Time Warner, The Wall Street Journal, Favorite Books of 2013
“Entertaining history.”
—The New Yorker
“Delightfully eccentric history. . . . Eye-opening and entertaining, it's popular history of the best sort.”
—Michael Giltz, Favorite Books of the Year, Huffington Post
“Sometimes it’s clear from the off that a book is special, and that indefinable sense took hold quickly here. . . . An enthralling tale of radicalism and tolerance of strange and otherwise anathema beliefs and ideas.”
—Alex Crowley, Best Books of the Year, Publishers Weekly
“Masterful reporting, vivid history—the past and present are equally alive in this book.”
—James Gleick, author of The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood
“Shorto is an excellent storyteller and rootler of strange facts, and Amsterdam should be issued as standard kit for anyone visiting the city.”
—The Guardian (UK)
“Russell Shorto writes engagingly about how a city can engender ideas—order, tolerance, comfort, egalitarianism, entrepreneurship—and in turn be shaped by them. Amsterdam argues convincingly that Western liberalism has been greatly influenced by this small, modest, crazy-yet-conventional place.”
—Witold Rybczynski, author of How Architecture Works: A Humanist’s Toolkit
“An often brilliant, and always enjoyable, investigation of liberalism’s Dutch roots. Shorto is once again revealed as a passionate and persuasive historian of culture and ideas.”
—Joseph O’Neill, author of Netherland
“Russell Shorto loves Amsterdam, I love this book.”
—Job Cohen, former mayor of Amsterdam
“Luminous. . . . An entertaining history full of deftly drawn characters and intoxicating ideas which have made Amsterdam the birthplace of liberalism in its many and shifting incarnations.”
—Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor & Publisher, The Nation
“[A] smart, elegant book. . . . A wonderfully readable account of the city that Shorto has come to call home.”
—Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and 1493
“Vigorous, erudite and eminently readable.”
—Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
A Bicycle Trip
A day in Amsterdam begins with me leaving my apartment with my toddler son in my arms, strapping him into his seat between the handlebars of my bicycle, working his blocky little sneakered feet into the footpads, then setting off through the quiet, generally breezy streets of our neighborhood, which is called Oud Zuid: Old South. You could look at the work of any Dutch master for an idea of the morning light we cycle through. There is a white cleanness to it, a rinsed quality. It's a sober light, without, for example, any of the orange particulate glow you get from the Mediterranean sun. The houses of the neighborhood are three- or four-story brick buildings, all constructed in the first two decades of the twentieth century, when what was then a vigorously working-class city, one that still smelled of herring and roasting coffee beans, expanded rapidly around its central core of canals.
We cycle past street-level apartments, some of which, following a Dutch tradition that I like to think has to do with an ingrained commitment to openness, feature a central uncurtained window that puts the living room on public display, as if the family who lives there thinks its life is worthy of a museum. For a while I didn't understand why, when we reach the part of the route that has us riding alongside a canal, my son would break out in a series of high screeches. Then I realized Anthony was imitating the gulls that squeal as they do their crazy arcs and dives above the water.
We pass a few businesses. The bakery is usually scenting the morning air with cinnamon as we ride by. The display windows of the corner bicycle shop exhibit sturdy, gleaming new models, lately in an array of pastel tones, by Gazelle and Batavus, factories that have been turning out Dutch bicycles for a century. An open door to the right of the windows leads down to the basement, and the repair shop, whose interior I know too well. The grooves in the concrete at both sides of the stairway leading below are meant for bicycle tires.
Once in a while I will vary the route and turn down along the Hobbemakade, where on our right is a slightly forlorn-looking stretch of canal, with weeds growing up through the quayside where rickety houseboats are moored, and on the left are the remnants of one of the smallest and least noticeable of the city's several red light districts. De Wallen--Amsterdam's central red light district--is a sort of alternate-universe Disneyland, noisy and with a certain ragged cheer, visited not only by drunken male tourists but also by couples strolling arm in arm and even families. Here, by contrast, there are only three or four of the display windows that the city's licensed prostitutes sit in to exhibit themselves, in the midst of what is otherwise a residential street. I never get how customers would know to find them. Nevertheless, even in the morning there is often at least one woman on duty, wearing a swimsuit, sitting on a stool, smoking, or listlessly punching the keys of a cell phone. Sometimes she will wave at Anthony and give him a little smile. The other window might be empty save for a stool with a towel folded on the seat that is crumpled in a way that looks like it has been sat on. Such details--the crumpled towel, the bored look of the woman facing a long day of staring into the street, punctuated by short intervals of sex with strangers--bring the city's infamous tolerance of vice out of the realms of sensationalism and idealism and into the realm of the deeply mundane. As with any other place, living here for a time causes the exotic to collapse under the weight of ordinariness. Two doors down is another storefront business, an advertising agency whose name--Strangelove--you might think is intended as a wry commentary on the neighbors, but I would bet not. I'll bet they don't even notice.
Amsterdam School is the name given to the style of architecture that was pioneered in my neighborhood as it was coming into being. The style has a formal aesthetic, which has its technical descriptors and philosophical (socialist) underpinnings, but to me it simply embodies a reasonably pleasant combination of whimsy and stolidness. Brick (what could be more stolid?) is the medium, yet there is an infinity of playful variations: rounded turretlike corners, embedded deco-ish sculptures that seem to mock the hardness of the material (a girl surrounded by rabbits, a baby holding up a doorway), block-long apartment buildings that could have had an ocean liner as their inspiration, or a wedding cake.
The neighborhood is no more than five minutes by bike from the canal belt and the storied seventeenth-century heart of Amsterdam, but when developers were laying it out a hundred years ago they must have felt a need to connect the new area to the city's history. If Rembrandt visited the immediate area around my home he might feel some familiarity, for even though this was swamp and fields in his time the streets bear the names of many of the artists whom he groomed in his workshop or competed with for commissions: Frans van Mieris, who wrought exquisite small portraits of the wealthy class; Nicolaas Maes, who often painted ordinary people at prayer and at meals and gave the same loving attention to a glistening loaf of bread or an earthen pitcher on a table as he did to the faces of his subjects; Philips Wouwerman, who specialized in hunting scenes and was known to paint a mean horse.
At the time my neighborhood came into being, all of those were figures of the grand past, so that the names Nicolaas Maesstraat and Frans van Mierisstraat instantly gave the new neighborhood some of the luster of Amsterdam's age of glory, when it was--briefly and improbably--the greatest city in the world. To this day the houses on those streets have dignified presence. But as you go farther away from the center, as we do on our morning trip, the houses get plainer. It seems the city fathers of a century ago did not want to dilute the grandeur of the golden age by spreading its names too far. On the other hand, in 1905, right at the time that the more distant part of the neighborhood was being laid out, the nearby Stedelijk Museum, the city's modern art museum, mounted the first exhibition in the country devoted to Vincent van Gogh. The Dutch artist had died only fifteen years before; his home country had done its best to ignore him, but it was now obvious that they would have to pay attention. Yet at the same time, his name didn't carry bourgeois heft--and who knew if those thick swirls of bright color would withstand the test of time? As a result of what I imagine were considerations such as these, Vincent van Goghstraat--the only street in the area whose name is instantly, globally recognizable today--is among the humblest: a single block of monotone dwellings.
That street also signals the end of our little journey. As Anthony and I pass it, I hop off the bicycle, unstrap him, and set him on the sidewalk. While I ring the doorbell, he opens the mailbox flap, which is on his level, and hollers into it. The door is opened by a Moroccan woman in her thirties, wearing a head scarf, floor-length robe, and sandals. She has a kind face and smiles at Anthony as she tells him he's grown over the weekend: "Nou, wat een grote jongen ben je!" He plays a game, trying to scramble up the stairs to the next floor instead of going into her apartment. Iman and her husband have lived in Amsterdam for ten years. They have two young daughters. Her husband drives a city bus; she is a licensed gastouder: literally, "guest parent," what in the United States would be called a day care provider. Her four-year-old, Marwa, emerges from behind her, with a tangle of curls and big deep eyes, and says hello over and over, very loudly. Then she tells me Anthony is ugly. Then she gives him a hug and hauls him into the apartment.
Iman and I chat for a few minutes. Some weeks before she asked if Anthony's mother and I would sign an immigration document in support of her sister, who wanted to come to Amsterdam to visit. I was confused at first: I thought one was required to get such statements of support for people who intended to emigrate, not who merely wanted to visit family. I subsequently learned that it was now necessary in the Netherlands for people from certain countries (read poor countries--or, to be more precise, Muslim countries) to file extensive applications, including having residents vouch for them, even if all they wanted to do was see the canals and tulips. We signed the form. Then a few weeks later Iman said her sister's application had been denied. The reason given: she was "onbetrouwbaar"-untrustworthy. When Iman asked, through an immigration lawyer, for clarification, she was told that because of "ties" in the country it was feared that her sister might stay in the Netherlands. Iman was confused by this. She and her husband were legal residents of the Netherlands. They paid taxes. The family spoke Dutch at home. They were, as they say, playing by the rules. Yet their legal residence itself was deemed a reason for untrustworthiness. Much later, the decision was reversed, and Iman's sister was allowed to visit, but such is a conundrum of our era: a city famed historically for championing the notion of tolerance now seemed to be charting odd new frontiers of intolerance.
Once a week, after I've left Anthony in Iman's care, I don't return directly home but spend the morning exploring another, quite different frontier of intolerance. Taking another route, I pull up at a corner of the Beethovenstraat (now having reentered the tonier part of the district, whose precincts are suited to grand names--nearby are Rubenstraat and Bachstraat), peruse the street corner florist's kiosk, buy a bunch of variegated tulips or mauve roses, and ring a doorbell a few steps away. Upstairs, I am met by an elderly woman with short steel-gray hair, a sharply angled jawline, and darting, birdlike eyes. Her name is Frieda Menco. We exchange the standard Dutch greeting of three kisses, I hand the flowers to her, she protests mildly that I shouldn't have, then we enter her apartment. The living and dining rooms are wide, very bright, and sparsely filled with modernist furniture. A spread is laid out on the coffee table: cookies, chocolate, a pot of coffee and two cups, a jug of water, a vase of flowers.
We sit. I turn on my recorder. We exchange small talk. Then she turns her face toward the watery sunlight pouring in through the windows and says, "Now, where was I?"
Someone outside is shouting--no, a lot of people, confused voices. The train lurches suddenly; the packed bodies sway; people scream. Frieda is sixteen and for two days and nights has sat scrunched on the lap of a middle-aged man whom she doesn't know. The cattle car is so crammed with people that the atmosphere would seem to be one of horror, but instead the press of inexorable power brings on a wave of colossal deadness. The air is clotted with the reek of their waste--a barrel in the corner has been the communal open toilet. It sits perversely high, so in order to relieve herself she not only has to endure the public nature of a private act but must balance herself on its rim and try not to knock it over. There are no windows in the car, and when the door is slid shut there is no virtually no light; the air is dark and stifling as death. Occasionally she catches a glimpse of her parents where they sit wedged on the other side of the car--their eyes frightened but still holding the hard, almost uncrushable nugget of hope in them. She is their only child.
Finally, she is outside, standing on the ground. More shouts--real chaos in the distance. And there--a gallows, a human body, hanging, swaying in space. People over there are running now, screaming. Here, they are being jostled into lines. Now some are pushing into them--they are Jews like them but who know the routine, everyone wearing blue-and-white-striped prison uniforms--whispering hard into their faces: If you have anything of value, give it to me, because they will take it from you. Some of the newcomers hand over their jewelry; she gives nothing because she has nothing. They are formed into four lines: two of women and girls, two of men and boys. She and her mother are in one line, to the far right, then comes the other female line--though she doesn't know it yet, this second line, holding people who were quickly deemed not fit for work, is headed directly into the gas chamber--and she spots her father in the third line. Soldiers and dogs keep people in place: those uniforms, the Stahlhelm, the helmet with its infamously and menacingly scooped curve. But no, these things didn't register that way yet, didn't have the heavy meaning they would take on.
A grim geometry problem is on display, taunting her to find a solution: as the people lurch forward, the space between where her father stands in his line and where she and her mother are in their line grows wider.
Then, improbably, out of character, she sees her father seem to calculate, reach a rash decision. He has lunged--he is moving across that open space, obliterating that vacuum, passing through the second line of women that stands between his line and hers, defying the gray-uniformed soldiers with their helmets and guns. He is here, breathing, his face--a soft, round, gentle face--close to her. His is an artistic soul, bent by necessity toward commerce. Joel Brommet is a professional window dresser, who also gives correspondence courses in graphic design. Frieda is his joy. She helps him with his work, cranks the mimeograph machine that occupies a corner of their Amsterdam living room, running off the inky-smelling sheets, each with a carefully typed lesson, each beginning, "Worthy student," folds the packets, and stuffs them into brown envelopes to be sent to towns and villages around the country, to young people who hope to escape farming or fishing for a life with a touch more glamour. She would sometimes make trips with her father to stores to observe his latest work. He showed her how he crafted every detail of a window display: the price tags, the signs ("Speciale prijs! 13 ct."), mannequins posed just so. Frieda's earliest memory is of him. She is maybe three years old, happy and sleepy in her bed in their comfortable middle-class apartment. "Will you catch the moon for me, and put it on the cupboard?" She still remembers that cupboard and what a nice ornament she thought the silver disc of the moon would make sitting on top. He answers: "If you sleep like a sweet little girl, I'll fetch a long ladder and get the moon for you."
Product details
- ASIN : B00CK8CJVI
- Publisher : Vintage (October 22, 2013)
- Publication date : October 22, 2013
- Language : English
- File size : 14469 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 369 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #242,369 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #9 in Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg Travel
- #32 in Dutch History
- #321 in General Europe Travel Guides
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Russell Shorto is the author of eight books of narrative history, including the international bestseller THE ISLAND AT THE CENTER OF THE WORLD. His new book, coming in March 2025, is TAKING MANHATTAN. He is the director of the New Amsterdam Project at the New-York Historical Society and Senior Scholar at the New Netherland Institute. In 2009 he was awarded a knighthood from the Dutch government for his work in increasing historical understanding between the Netherlands and the United States. (author photo: Izzy Watson)
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book's history interesting and well-written. They describe it as a valuable read before visiting Amsterdam, with compelling insights and lively research. Readers praise the writing style as interesting and flowy, with an engaging narrative. The book provides valuable insight into the city's impact on modern culture and politics. Overall, customers find the book entertaining and enjoyable.
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Customers enjoy the book's history. They find the writing accessible and anchored to human history. The book provides a good context to relate these events to present-day concepts. Readers appreciate the interesting stories and oral histories, as well as the factual information about the city.
"...to an Amsterdam visit, Russell Shorto's book will inform you about Amsterdam's history, people and culture...." Read more
"...He also has the ability to bring that city to life for us. Amsterdam has many odd, unique, and quirky things about it that make it what it is today..." Read more
"Great book about history of Amsterdam !" Read more
"...Although there are some great sections using oral history. By the end of the book, you will want to visit Amsterdam...." Read more
Customers find the book engaging and thought-provoking. They say it's a valuable read about the history of Amsterdam, written with love and tenderness. Many find it enjoyable and entertaining, especially the section on the Glory Revolution.
"...It’s a great book. It will enrich your Amsterdam experience, before, during or after a visit...." Read more
"...I was not disappointed. Recommended for lovers of the written word." Read more
"...Plus there was an excellent section on how the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688 in England was actually a true invasion, despite what British..." Read more
"I loved this book. It’s an excellently written book that tells the story of Amsterdam, one of Europe’s most important cities...." Read more
Customers enjoy the book's insights. They find the narrative compelling, with lively research and great storytelling. The book is thought-provoking and inspiring, bringing together first-hand tales and thorough research. Readers appreciate the well-researched arguments and facts, while writing in a story-telling style.
"...I knew Amsterdam would be rich in history, rich in substance, thought provoking, well written and well told. I was not disappointed...." Read more
"...Amsterdam has many odd, unique, and quirky things about it that make it what it is today...." Read more
"...of the book continues with the story of Amsterdam, and while it is all fascinating, especially how Amsterdam battled with Lisbon for control of..." Read more
"...Shorto is an interesting writer with a pleasant voice and I would have read this anyway without the hook of "liberalism" to lure me...." Read more
Customers find the writing engaging and easy to read. They describe the book as an accessible introduction to Amsterdam's history, with a well-crafted story-telling style. The book provides a detailed account of the city's past in an interesting prose style.
"...would be rich in history, rich in substance, thought provoking, well written and well told. I was not disappointed...." Read more
"I loved this book. It’s an excellently written book that tells the story of Amsterdam, one of Europe’s most important cities...." Read more
"...Shorto is an interesting writer with a pleasant voice and I would have read this anyway without the hook of "liberalism" to lure me...." Read more
"...That being said, I'm not a history person. This was a smoother read than an average textbook, so given a choice I'd pick this book again over a..." Read more
Customers find the book insightful on the history of Amsterdam and its impact on western liberal thinking. It provides an overview of contemporary culture and politics, with a sociological perspective. Readers appreciate the historical, religious, and socio-cultural factors that led to the city's unique liberal atmosphere.
"...He’ll give you insights and perspective on the foundations of individual freedom and what made the Enlightenment so important to our lives today." Read more
"...being made, with connections between countries and political factions in one era linked forward and backward in time, and close-ups of priests,..." Read more
"...His discussion of the two sides of liberal was clear and helped me to understand how the Dutch combined them to create a modern society...." Read more
"...religious tolerance, in concepts of individualism, equality, liberal self- government, (Locke lived and wrote in Amsterdam, by the way), and so much..." Read more
Customers enjoy the book. They find it engaging and informative, with an entertaining way of presenting history.
"...But if you are looking for an enjoyable book to read and are able to take the analysis offered as one voice among some wiser ones, you’ll both..." Read more
"...I loved this book! Well written, engaging, and very interesting...." Read more
"...This book was enjoyable and enlightening read." Read more
"Quite a good read for a history book and certainly engaging...." Read more
Customers find the book well-designed and detailed with illustrations. They appreciate the author's easy style and sophisticated writing style. The book is described as a good clean copy in excellent condition for a second-hand purchase.
"...It's not a tourism book, it's a very well written portrait of the city (and to some extent the rest of Netherlands and Europe) four centuries ago...." Read more
"Well designed, the book starts and ends with the presence of Frieda...." Read more
"...A few chapters were very compelling! The rest was dry, dull, and it felt like Shorto wasn't interested in the topics either...." Read more
"...India Co and which led to our so called "Tolerance" was very sophisticated and interesting...." Read more
Customers find the book engaging and evocative. They appreciate its personal touch and intimate portraits of individuals. The book explores Amsterdam's unique ideology and how individuality developed with the city's people.
"...Amsterdam has many odd, unique, and quirky things about it that make it what it is today...." Read more
"...One feels enriched, definitely, and grateful for this personalized yet detailed description of a city, its buildings and those who lived there over..." Read more
"...the years quickly illuminating each age with an intimate portrait of a few individuals ...." Read more
"...earliest farmers and fishermen through to the modern era, we get a personalized and yet nicely organized history of the city and the surrounding area..." Read more
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Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2014During a recent visit to Amsterdam, I got Russell Shorto’s Amsterdam on my kindle. It’s a great book. It will enrich your Amsterdam experience, before, during or after a visit. Having read his Descartes’ Bones, I knew Amsterdam would be rich in history, rich in substance, thought provoking, well written and well told. I was not disappointed.
To add depth and texture to an Amsterdam visit, Russell Shorto's book will inform you about Amsterdam's history, people and culture. It includes some wonderful insights about The Rijksmuseum and its collection. If you are interested in how the canals and houses were built, good stories about people you know that lived in these houses, and how Amsterdam’s place in the world came to be, then get and read this wonderful book.
There are lots of little nuances that will strike you as you read this book. As just one tiny example, now I know the source of The Rolling Stones title for their late 60’s album, Beggars Banquet. Russell Shorto opens his book with a story about riding his bicycle. He got that so right. People riding their bicycles in Amsterdam is the first lasting impression you experience there. After all, we knew about the canals, right?
If a trip to Amsterdam is not on the horizon for you at the moment, then read this book because Russell Shorto will take you there and beyond, He will open your eyes to the rich deep history and people of Amsterdam. He’ll give you insights and perspective on the foundations of individual freedom and what made the Enlightenment so important to our lives today.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2020Mr. Shorto knows his city. He also has the ability to bring that city to life for us. Amsterdam has many odd, unique, and quirky things about it that make it what it is today. Shorto has dug into the substrata of the town to find just those interesting things that define the metropolis. He has lots of little and not so little details about the history of the place that makes it come to life for us. We imagine that we have an understanding of the soul of the city, that we can appreciate her, and why she is as she is today.
I read this book on the basis of how much I enjoyed and benefited from his book on New York. I was not disappointed.
Recommended for lovers of the written word.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2024Great book about history of Amsterdam !
- Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2013Having fallen in love with Russel Shorto's 'The Island at the Center of the World', and greatly enjoying his articles in the NYT, I was eagerly anticipating this book. And I was not disappointed.
In this relatively short history, Shorto weaves his own personal experiences of Amsterdam with the history of the city. In particular, as he shows how Liberalism (note the capital L here: this is Liberalism in the classic sense - personal freedom, economic freedom, individual freedoms and individual rights, etc - not in the American political spectrum sense) defined the city he convincingly relays how the city's unique geography allowed Liberalism to grow and thrive. In particular, the concept of 'gedogen' - hard to translate, but sort of like toleration of what is illegal by not enforcing laws against something - seems to have defined the city of Amsterdam from early on.
Beginning with the miracle of the wafer, Amsterdam grew from such humble beginning. Yes, around a wafer. But hey, it was a different century and rather than tourists flocking to museums, they instead flocked to religious items. So why not a wafer? Shorto then shows how fishing and shipping enriched the city before getting to the best part of the book - the Golden Age of Amsterdam of the 17th century. Probably the highlight of the book for me because this was the age that would then go on to influence New Amsterdam, and through New Amsterdam the whole of the US. Plus there was an excellent section on how the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688 in England was actually a true invasion, despite what British historians may have led you to believe since.
The rest of the book continues with the story of Amsterdam, and while it is all fascinating, especially how Amsterdam battled with Lisbon for control of global trade, it's not as interesting to me as the 17th century. Although there are some great sections using oral history. By the end of the book, you will want to visit Amsterdam. And when a history book about a city makes you want to visit it, that counts as a success in my eyes.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2023I loved this book. It’s an excellently written book that tells the story of Amsterdam, one of Europe’s most important cities. While the author covers Dutch economics, colonialism, and Amsterdam he also tell a story of Dutch people, how they worked together as as a community to build the early dams and handle the German invasion during WWII. I highly recommend this book.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2014This is a perfectly workman-like, popular history of the city of Amsterdam. Since I know little about it, I learned a great many interesting facts about the city, about famous people who have lived there and about the social and historical conditions prevailing at various times during its history.
Mr. Shorto uses the theme “liberalism” as the prism through which he examines this history. I did not find it a compelling unifier. I thought he was stretching the definition to allow himself to tell the history. I would have preferred it if he had just recounted the city’s story.
It seems to me that he wished to differentiate this volume from the many others written about European history in general and Amsterdam/The Netherlands in particular. I don’t think it was necessary for him to do so.
Shorto is an interesting writer with a pleasant voice and I would have read this anyway without the hook of "liberalism" to lure me. Perhaps Shorto felt that Amsteredam’s reputation as “the world’s most liberal city” would attract those interested in lurid accounts. That is not necessary. As I said in the beginning, this is a perfectly fine short history and is worth reading if you are interested in European history as I am.
Top reviews from other countries
- Pedro LópezReviewed in Mexico on May 28, 2023
4.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting
This book is about the History of Amsterdam the city, which is very interesting as the city is very unique in many ways, and as the author explains, it has been very influential to the history and culture of the rest of the world from the sixteenth century onwards, I found it so entertaining I had to put aside other books I was reading.
It’s not a textbook type of history book, the author weaves in some of his own experiences living in the city, and of people he met while researching, which are also interesting.
This book can be a good reference before visiting the city or a good way to understand the city more after visiting it.
I bough this book in kindle format in the Little Brown Book group edition, I liked it so much I gave a paperback copy as a present but in the Vintage edition, which I found out, included a good deal of illustrations and photographs that weren’t on the Little Brown kindle edition, it was ok, it’s still a good read with no illustrations, I was always using the maps app to check locations, it was also cheaper, I don’t know if the Vintage kindle edition includes the illustrations.
- SanjuktaReviewed in the Netherlands on November 21, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully written, interesting and as a bonus very informative
I loved loved loved this book. It's a must read for any expat living in the Netherlands. I understood a lot about the why and how of the Dutch culture through this book and it's just so interesting to read. I might have paused a few times after reading a line to soak it in or re-read para over and over again :)
- Patrick SullivanReviewed in Canada on December 13, 2017
5.0 out of 5 stars Amsterdam And The Dutch Reformation
This book went way beyond, any and all expectations. The emerging city throws off the yoke, of a foreign despot and the evil Catholic Church. Amsterdam becomes a model libertarian or classic liberal city. The civic model is based on; the rule of law, low flat taxes, open immigration, private property rights, freedom of religion, self-government, and a strong emphasis on individual rights. In other words, Amsterdam exercised a policy of laissez-faire capitalism. This combination allows the city to boom economically. A large middle class emerges in Amsterdam, along with many wealthy business owners. Shorto outlines the story of Amsterdam`s rise to greatness.
Shorto has a talent for turning history, into an exciting read. The first few pages started off slowly. But if you stick with it, the reader will be rewarded. On the slightly negative side. Shorto downplays the problems of the current welfare democratic system, that is being practiced in Amsterdam. Today`s liberalism/socialism is drastically different, from the original classic liberal model.
This book is highly recommended. I hope one day, to make a return visit to The Netherlands. The Dutch people and touring the city of Amsterdam is an incredible experience.
- BBReviewed in the United Kingdom on February 14, 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely brilliant!
I bought this (Kindle version) to take with me on a trip to Amsterdam - my first visit. I can't recommend it highly enough. It's very well written and quite quirky (in a good way). I wish I'd read it before I went as I could have added lots of things to my list of things to look out for on my trip. Other than learning about 'poulders' at school 50 years ago, I am ashamed to say I knew nothing about Amsterdam. The author of this book makes the history come alive, a bit of a cliche I know but it is so outstandingly well written with numerous amazing facts about the city, how it was built and who built it and why. I don't know if the author has written anything else but if not he should! The level of detail is extraordinary and it's so readable. I haven't quite finished it yet but as soon as I have I'm going to read it again! And book my next trip! Well done that man! Since writing the above I've discovered the author has indeed written several other books. I've just bought three of them to read on my trusty Kindle! (I prefer proper books to Kindle books but my Kindle is useful for reading in bed last thing at night and on the train etc.) I want to read this book again so I will probably buy the paperback too.
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セルジオ・メンデルスゾーンReviewed in Japan on September 4, 2020
4.0 out of 5 stars アムステルダムが見える
アムステルダムの歴史が綴られる。分かりやすく、興味が惹かれる。旅行の前に一読をお勧めする。