Description:
This is the first book to examine the history of the country in a way that connects global processes to local developments. Taking account of social, political and economic dynamics over the last thousand years, the book addresses key questions that get to the heart of the Netherlands' role in the world, both historically and in more recent times:
- Why did the 'West' become such a significant actor in the world, and what part did the Netherlands play?- What were the driving forces in state-formation, and in what respects and why did the Netherlands take a different path to most of Europe?
- How did globalisation impact economic structures and socio-cultural life, and how did the Netherlands react to these new challenges?
- How did this very Christian and bourgeois nation develop into a flagship for liberal tolerance? The book carefully balances a wider investigation of these issues with close inspections of how ordinary people experienced the changes they prompted. It also provide a convincing, judicious assessment of the ebbs and flows of this small country's global influence over time: prominent as a Golden Age economic powerhouse, colonial power, and bastion of political freedom in some eras, and yet impotent on the world stage at others. Supplemented with 35 images, 10 maps, a wealth of text boxes, charts and tables, as well as a companion website, this book is the definitive history of the Netherlands in a global context.
Brief description: Jeroen Touwen is Associate Professor of Economic and Social History at Leiden University.
Review Quotes: An aspiration to write textbooks in history that are both global and national has been around for several decades. But until now no book has been published for students in higher education with the analysis of international connexions, long term perspectives and comprehensive coverage required. This book is seminal. Let us hope it will be widely read and emulated by scholars from all other countries.
Patrick O'Brien, FBA, former Director of the Institute of Historical Research, University of London