The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America

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The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America

by Russell Shorto (Goodreads Author)

4.11 of 5 stars 4.11 · rating details · 2,556 ratings · 393 reviews

When the British wrested New Amsterdam from the Dutch in 1664, the truth about its thriving, polyglot society began to disappear into myths about an island purchased for 24 dollars and a cartoonish peg-legged governor. But the story of the Dutch colony of New Netherland was merely lost, not destroyed: 12,000 pages of its records–recently declared a national treasure–are no...more

Paperback, 384 pages

Published April 12th 2005 by Vintage (first published March 16th 2004)

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Nov 19, 2008 Dru rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fan der Doncks

The story of how Santa Claus came to America is long on extraneous facts and short on compelling narrative. A lot of people really like this book, and I very much enjoyed Shorto's style of writing, but his protagonist, Adriaen Van der Donck, is as dull as paste for at least two reasons:
1. As Shorto points out, most of the information we have on this man has been lost to history. So, Shorto has to "imagine" what Van der Donck was probably doing on many important days. Far too many passages begin...more

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Dec 25, 2008 Kaci added it

Dissertation topics, taken to 30 years research are hard to make interesting, but this author did it, for me. Important read for anyone with Dutch ancestry (like mine) and anyone studying American culture, Manhattan culture, or who wants to view capitalism through a different prism. As melting pot, model of tolerance and opportunity, mecca of creativity in early America... and as a lesson for failure to protect those values... a book packed with examples. A bit dry, but like all the toppings you...more

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Mar 13, 2009 Ruby rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

I enjoyed this book about little-known stories of the Dutch influence on Manhattan and its effect upon the multi-cultural population it has today. The author traces the tolerance apparent in NYC today to the Dutch. His personal bias is apparent from time to time--he himself is not tolerant of those who believed in the Divine Manifest--that God was at work in this country.

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Dec 28, 2008 Tom rated it 5 of 5 stars

New Netherland and New Amsterdam were phrases I remembered from dusty history textbooks of 7th grade, but never thought much about until I discovered Russell Shorto's "Island at the Center of the World" through the recommendation of two friends in the upper Hudson Valley. Shorto makes the gritty early days of New York City come alive, telling about its numerous taverns, prostitution and wary dealings with cagey Indians. (He debunks the myth of childlike Indians settling for just a bunch of beads...more

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Mar 22, 2013 John T. Hickey rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shorto uses recently translated Dutch archives, maps, and English-language memoirs to trace the development of the unique entrepreneurial, multicultural, tolerant society created in Manhattan by the Dutch and others. As Shorto noted, and as I learned decades ago in my European literature/bibliographic history studies, the Dutch in the 17th century had become the most liberal, tolerant, and entrepreneurial society in Europe, where it was considered normal for individuals to work hard, think creat...more

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Jan 17, 2013 Kristine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, history

Russell Shorto has written a dense, but mostly readable and utterly fascinating history of Manhattan and Dutch history in the 17th century based heavily on colonial New Netherlands documents which remained untranslated (and mostly overlooked by historians) until recent decades, in a translation project that is ongoing.

Thanks to Shorto for an illuminating portrait of Adriaen van der Donck (among others) and van der Donck's era in both Europe and America. His writing sheds light on the special c...more

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Nov 07, 2012 Gordon rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was only dimly aware that New York was originally New Amsterdam and that it had been part of the Dutch empire before the British took it over. The Island at the Center of the World is a history of the 40-year period lifespan of the Dutch colony, leading up to the bloodless British victory of 1664.

In reality, the Dutch colony of New Netherland -- of which the city of New Amsterdam was the main settlement -- was not so much a colony as a possession of a private company. That company, the Dutch...more
I was only dimly aware that New York was originally New Amsterdam and that it had been part of the Dutch empire before the British took it over. The Island at the Center of the World is a history of the 40-year period lifespan of the Dutch colony, leading up to the bloodless British victory of 1664.

In reality, the Dutch colony of New Netherland -- of which the city of New Amsterdam was the main settlement -- was not so much a colony as a possession of a private company. That company, the Dutch West India Company, didn't highly prize its asset, mainly because there was so much more money to be made in the Caribbean where there was sugar to be grown and armies of slaves to be exploited. In contrast, New Netherland was mainly populated by farmers and traders, who were not as profitable as slaves and sugar (or as the spices that were the main source of revenue of the Dutch East India Company, the other main Dutch trading company).

New Netherland was huge, extending from the Connecticut River in the middle of present-day Connecticut all the way down to Delaware. To the north and to the south lay British colonies, and the British had their eye on the Dutch possession once it became clear what a wonderful harbor New Amsterdam was and that the Hudson River was critical for access to the interior of the continent. The British and Dutch were imperial and trading rivals, and were the two fastest rising maritime powers of their day in the 1600's. This period was in fact what later centuries would come to recognize as the Netherlands' Golden Age -- Rembrandt, Vermeer, the Amsterdam stock market, the conquest of Indonesia, and all that. It was to be the last time that the Netherlands rivaled Great Britain in power and wealth.

Not surprisingly, since the British wanted New Netherland, and the Dutch West India Company didn't value it enough to invest sufficiently in its defense, the colony succumbed almost immediately when the British sent a fleet to seize it in 1664. The patron of the military expedition was the future King James II, then the Duke of York. So New Amsterdam became New York, and that was that -- other than a brief period of 15 months when the Dutch took it back in one of their many wars with the British, only to surrender it yet again during the territory-swapping of the peace treaty negotiations. The British kept New York, and the Dutch kept Surinam (a speck of tropical forest and swamp on the north-east coast of South America, known mainly to stamp collectors). It was a better deal for the British.

The main theme of the book is that New Amsterdam -- a village of 1500 people in 1664 -- was a different sort of place because of the religiously-tolerant, ethnically-diverse and republican-minded culture of the town and the colony. Furthermore, he argues that this heritage descended down through the centuries even after the British conquered it and that it continues to influence the city today. It is convenient that NYC today is tolerant, diverse and non-monarchical (despite the presence of Donald Trump). However, if you look at other former Dutch settlements of that era such as Cape Town in South Africa and Djakarta in Indonesia, they don't have that kind of tradition or culture. This tends to undermine the argument. It seems much more likely that it was the British colonial heritage that played a far larger role, since the British presence lasted much longer, the city grew far larger, the system of government was much more deeply rooted, and the colony was embedded in a much larger web of multiple American colonies all sharing a common heritage.

So on the whole, I think Russell Shorto's theme is over-sold and most likely largely wrong, but it's a great read just the same. The book is well-researched, the stories are well-told, and if you like New York at all, you'll learn a lot more about the roots of a great city.(less)

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Jul 29, 2012 Naomi Weiss rated it 5 of 5 stars

Complete review is here
http://gradstudentadd.blogspot.co.il/...

Russell Shorto's best-seller saves the Dutch culture of America from being let go. Besides the obvious adage that it is the victors who write history, there are other reasons for the English stranglehold on American history. Shorto humorously explains that American historians found an easier story in Puritan New England than the more rough-and-tumble reality of Dutch Manhattan.

Accounts like that of a woman who, while her husband doze...more Complete review is here
http://gradstudentadd.blogspot.co.il/...

Russell Shorto's best-seller saves the Dutch culture of America from being let go. Besides the obvious adage that it is the victors who write history, there are other reasons for the English stranglehold on American history. Shorto humorously explains that American historians found an easier story in Puritan New England than the more rough-and-tumble reality of Dutch Manhattan.

Accounts like that of a woman who, while her husband dozed on a nearby chair, ‘dishonourably manipulated the male member’ of a certain Irishman while two other men looked on. Excessive rigidity (of the moral kind) was not the sin of New Amsterdam’s residents.’ (p. 85)

{Shorto's wit is another great feature of the book. I think the following is the best sentence i have ever come across in a book about history:

The Reverend Jonas Michaelius might well have won a contest for the moodiest, bitchiest resident of New Amsterdam (p. 64)

Phenomenal!}

The historical revisionism of American history is, bluntly put, a conscious decision of total haters with English ancestry. Think i'm being harsh? Shorto brings evidence that nineteenth-century historians considered the Dutch chapter of American history inconsequential at best. Descriptions of the

petty cheeseparing of the Batavian provinces, with their windmills and barren soil, fit only for fuel

are among the kinder references made to the Dutch in nineteenth century American historical surveys.

Shorto instead brings to life Adriaen van der Donck, a young lawyer sent to New Netherland who pushed for the Republican-style government and freedom that became so central to America's cultural heritage. Shorto draws you into his tale by beginning with the work of Charles Gehring, who has worked for over 30 years (and is still going!) translating over 12,000 folios of Dutch colonial records. This book is sweet. Shorto does not divorce New Netherland history from 17th century Dutch history (if you loved Simon Schama's page-turner on the topic you will totes dig this), enriching both in the process. There's also a lot of cool facts to learn. I had no idea that the first kosher butcher on Manhattan Island was a Polish Jew named Asser Levy who stood up to Stuvesant's anti-Semitic wrangling. Want to know who Downing Street was named after? Read the book.

Despite my enthusiasm for this book, there is a huge problem in its premise. Essentially, Shorto makes the argument that the Dutch colony had its roots in thinkers like Grotius and Spinoza; liberals who advocated civil over religious law, in contrast to the witch burning crazy English colonies. To read Grotius as freeing natural law from theology is a dangerous misreading of Grotius at best, and a gross misrepresentation at worst. What follows is the philosophy that the only tolerant society is one that divorces itself from its religious heritage, which diminishes the monumental achievement of the 'tolerant' society of 17th century New Netherland, which was, indeed rooted in theology. That's where Shorto seems to drop the ball. He has us imagining van der Donck studying law at Leiden with Grotius, (which is awesome, granted), but if anything stands out about 17th century Leiden (besides the fact that it was full of Englishman wearing buckled hats and pimp-shoes), it's that the hottest topic of study gripping the place was Hebraism. That is to say, people like Grotius, and later, Selden in England, were defining international and natural law according to rabbinic sources such as the Talmud and Maimonides. A liberal environment, certainly. A Godless one, definitely not.(less)

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Jun 06, 2011 Avigail rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Avigail by: Dorothy Benson

Shelves: nyc-history, urban-history, us-history

The Island at the Center of the World is a wonderful example of a genre I call "The Superficial History of..." This is not to say that the book is not well-researched, or has a weak, generalized argument; Shorto obviously read exhaustively on the topic and his argument is a salient one. The Island at the Center of the World is the perfect book to introduce readers to the Dutch impact on New York and the legacy of Dutch influence in America.

The book does have its flaws. While generally organized...more The Island at the Center of the World is a wonderful example of a genre I call "The Superficial History of..." This is not to say that the book is not well-researched, or has a weak, generalized argument; Shorto obviously read exhaustively on the topic and his argument is a salient one. The Island at the Center of the World is the perfect book to introduce readers to the Dutch impact on New York and the legacy of Dutch influence in America.

The book does have its flaws. While generally organized chronologically, at times I felt that Shorto was speaking about the colony on a macro level while referring to a micro-level event. So much of the book's emphasis is on the end-result--Van der Donck v. Stuyvesant, Stuyvesant v. the British--that his discussion of the early colony cannot help but be tinged by what has yet to come. This results in a blurring of the narrative. Shorto's desire to break down the hegemony of the British in colonial American history distorts the clean chronology he tries to follow.

Stylistically, I had two complaints. First, while I enjoy Shorto's writing, his voice was too loud in the text. In some ways it was enjoyable to feel like he was standing next to me and telling me this amazing story, but ultimately I think it detracted from his authority and made him sound more like a fanboy than an expert. Secondly, the book was poorly edited. Too many times I found myself rereading the same anecdote and wondering why an editor hadn't caught the repetition.

I recommend this book to two kinds of readers: 1) those who like fun, easy-to-read history books that portray vivid characters and don't get bogged down in the niche or the theoretical, and who don't really care that it's just skimming the surface of a larger historical debate, and 2) those history lovers who like a quick read to introduce them to a topic and give them a broad context for further readings. Shorto provides a bibliography that would not be out of place at the back of a historical monograph, and so those interested in looking at primary documents and/or more specific secondary works can easily find sources. (less)

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Mar 09, 2011 Beeb3 marked it as to-read

Recommended to Beeb3 by: betsy

Shelves: not-chosen

Drawing on 17th-century Dutch records of New Netherland and its capital, Manhattan, translated by scholar Charles Gehring only in recent decades, Shorto (Gospel Truth) brings to exuberant life the human drama behind the skimpy legend starting with the colony's founding in 1623. Most Americans know little about Dutch Manhattan beyond its first director, Peter Minuit, who made the infamous $24 deal with the Indians, and Peter Stuyvesant, the stern governor who lost the island to the English in 166...more

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Sep 16, 2010 Leslie rated it 5 of 5 stars

When a very intelligent, perceptive gentleman of good local family recommended this book, I immediately put in an order for it. There's nothing that appeals to me more than local history, and this is local history on only a slightly broader scale.

The Dutch settlement of the colony of New Amsterdam is a little known facet of American history. Recent discovery and translation of the many documents produced by that colony has shed a new light on this early settlement, revealing the vibrant beginnin...more
When a very intelligent, perceptive gentleman of good local family recommended this book, I immediately put in an order for it. There's nothing that appeals to me more than local history, and this is local history on only a slightly broader scale.

The Dutch settlement of the colony of New Amsterdam is a little known facet of American history. Recent discovery and translation of the many documents produced by that colony has shed a new light on this early settlement, revealing the vibrant beginnings of a city known for its vigor and unique character.

The story soon comes down to the conflict between two strong-willed and powerful men. Adriaen van der Donck, a young lawyer and historian with a vision for the future of New Amsterdam and Peter Stuyvesant, governor and representative of the company that owned the colony clash over the rights of the colonists and the government of the new world. As the story of their political manipulations and struggles continues, the reader soon realizes that New Amsterdam's rowdy active seaport was the true mother of New York. Many aspects of Dutch culture and attitude continued after the English took over the colony and were assimilated into the New World.

The notions of freedom for the individual, an entirely new concept to European minds, originated, so Shorto claims with justification, in the fertile grounds of Dutch thought and education. In a Europe struggling with war and ignorance, the Dutch institutes of learning offered refuge for some of the finest minds of the era. Adriaen van der Donck and his generation were strongly influenced by Dutch thought and culture, and through them a new idea ranged through North America.

Shorto's book is fast paced and entertaining, featuring a broad ranging look at the well-known, not so well-known and obscure inhabitants of the island that became Manhattan. Reading this book gave me a new perception of colonial history and I can recommend it to anyone interested in the smaller and bigger pictures of the growth of America.

(less)

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Sep 11, 2010 Elizabeth Sulzby rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

Shorto has given us a description of the Dutch history of Manhattan, Yonkers (Younkers), and the Bronx (de Brounx--?sp.) from lost/forgotten archives in Dutch. I read this book while I was doing a 3 year research project with the poorest schools in the Bronx and after my longtime collaboration with researchers at Leiden University in the Netherlands. I also like having a feeling of the land under modern-day NYC. As I had learned more thanks to my Dutch friends of the Golden Age in the lowcountry...more

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Jul 14, 2010 E Wilson rated it 4 of 5 stars

History is written by the victors. I guess that's why the only thing
I learned in school was that New York was settled by the Dutch and
originally called New Amsterdam and that Peter Stuyvesant had a wooden
leg.
I was so interested in Adriaen Van der Donck and think he should be as
noteworthy an early American as William Brewster, John Smith or
John Winthrop. I wonder had he achieved his goal of changing
the government of New Amsterdam from the tyrannical rule of the
East India Company to the represent...more

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Mar 04, 2010 Bettie marked it as to-read

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. work pc

Blurbifications -

Publishers Weekly

Drawing on 17th-century Dutch records of New Netherland and its capital, Manhattan, translated by scholar Charles Gehring only in recent decades, Shorto brings to exuberant life the human drama behind the skimpy legend starting with the colony's founding in 1623. Most Americans know little about Dutch Manhattan beyond its first director, Peter Minuit, who made the infamous $24 deal with the Indians, and Peter Stuyvesant, the stern governor who lost the i...more work pc

Blurbifications -

Publishers Weekly

Drawing on 17th-century Dutch records of New Netherland and its capital, Manhattan, translated by scholar Charles Gehring only in recent decades, Shorto brings to exuberant life the human drama behind the skimpy legend starting with the colony's founding in 1623. Most Americans know little about Dutch Manhattan beyond its first director, Peter Minuit, who made the infamous $24 deal with the Indians, and Peter Stuyvesant, the stern governor who lost the island to the English in 1664. These two seminal figures receive their due here, along with a huge cast of equally fascinating characters. But Shorto has a more ambitious agenda: to argue for the huge debt Americans owe to the culture of Dutch Manhattan, the first place in the New World where men and women of different races and creeds lived in relative harmony. The petitions of the colony's citizens for greater autonomy, penned by Dutch-trained lawyer Adriaen van der Donck, represented "one of the earliest expressions of modern political impulses: an insistence by the members of the community that they play a role in their own government." While not discounting the British role in the shaping of American society, the author argues persuasively for the Dutch origins of some of our most cherished beliefs and their roots in "the tolerance debates in Holland" and "the intellectual world of Descartes, Grotius, and Spinoza." Shorto's gracefully written historical account is a must-read for anyone interested in this nation's origins.

Booklist:

As the song goes, "Even Old New York was once New Amsterdam." Unfortunately, for many Americans, that is the limit of their knowledge about the Dutch colony that was seized by the English in 1664. Shorto, author of two previous books and articles published in the New Yorker and the New York Times Magazine, presents an outstanding and revealing chronicle of the Dutch presence on Manhattan Island. Much of his research is based on recently translated Dutch primary sources that have languished in archives in Albany. Written in elegant prose, this enthralling story provides original perspectives on several historical figures, including Henry Hudson, Peter Minuit, and Peter Stuyvesant. Shorto also highlights the contributions of Andriaen van der Donck, an energetic, charismatic man who played an integral part in creating a dynamic, diverse, and tolerant society that appears refreshing when compared to the neighboring Puritan-dominated colony in Massachusetts. This is an important work.(less)

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Nov 10, 2009 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2004

I picked up The Island at the Center of the World because it directly targets two of my own personal obsessions: New York history and Dutch language. Author Russell Shorto builds it upon thirty years of translation work by a man called Charles Gehring, a specialist in 17th century Dutch who resurrected the complete records of New Amsterdam, the Dutch settlement that is now New York City and environs. Shorto's thesis is that the Dutch colony was more successful and more influential than previousl...more I picked up The Island at the Center of the World because it directly targets two of my own personal obsessions: New York history and Dutch language. Author Russell Shorto builds it upon thirty years of translation work by a man called Charles Gehring, a specialist in 17th century Dutch who resurrected the complete records of New Amsterdam, the Dutch settlement that is now New York City and environs. Shorto's thesis is that the Dutch colony was more successful and more influential than previously believed, unjustly forgotten because of the language barrier and because of Anglocentrist historians who both downplayed its significance and judged it a failure based on the criteria of the more religious New England colonies.

There is a lot here to satisfy the curious New Yorker--Broadway's origin as an Indian path, stories about the first Brooklynites--but what makes this worth reading is its portrayal of Adriaen van der Donck, who opposed the autocratic rule of Peter Stuyvesant and insisted that the inhabitants of New Amsterdam deserved the rights of Dutch citizens, as opposed to employees of the Dutch East India Company. Trained as a lawyer at Leyden University (possibly even under the tutelage of Spinoza and Descartes), he even sailed back to the Netherlands at one point to make his case before the States General. Shorto shows that the egalitarianism of the Dutch Golden Age was brought to America by van der Donck and how echoes of it even made their way, more than a hundred years later, into our founding documents. Despite all this, however, van der Donck was forgotten after his death in an Indian raid. The only sign of him left in New York is the town of Yonkers (New Amsterdammers called him "Jonker," i.e. landowner).

Most refreshing about this book is the vision it presents of a freewheeling, open society in early America--an attractive alternative for anyone who spent their school years learning about the prudent and stuffy Pilgrims. Shorto fittingly writes in a relatively breezy and unacademic style, a la Barbara Tuchman. Sometimes he takes the informality too far. On the whole, though, I found this a very worthwhile read.(less)

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Jul 30, 2009 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Well, any book that makes you choke up a little when Peter Stuyvesant hands over control of New Amsterdam to the British is doing something right. Shorto is a thoughtful and engaging storyteller, and makes you feel as if you are right there walking around the muddy streets of the small Dutch outpost, breathing in the sense of possibility that it and its inhabitants hold.

Shorto does a great job of laying out a number of Dutchmen's sometimes competing visions of the city of New Amsterdam, profili...more

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Apr 08, 2009 Pam rated it 5 of 5 stars

Brilliant story-telling, history writing at its finest. Little-known story of the Dutch colonists who settled Manhattan in 1600 and how their influence reaches forward to the present day. Here's a sample from p. 9-10:

" . . . this book invites you to do the impossible: to strip from your mental image of Manhattan Island all associations of power, concrete, and glass; to put time into full reverse, unfill the massive landfills, and undo the extensive leveling programs that flattened hills and fill...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Sometimes we read for total pleasure and escape. Sometimes we read because we want to learn something. Sometimes we read because we’ve promised a dear friend we will support her book discussion at the local library even though we’d never select the book for ourselves.

“Island at the Center of the World” falls into the last category, but as I told my dear friend today when I arrived for the discussion, I’m very glad I persevered and read this.

If goodreads.com weren’t forcing me into full stars, I’...more

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Aug 10, 2012 Cameling rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

Manhattan, or New Amsterdam as it was known in the 1620s had a short colonization under the Dutch who founded New Netherlands before it was seized by the English in 1664. Under the directorship of Peter Minuit, famous not only for establishing this new colony for the Dutch but for purchasing it from the Indians for $24, this colony was a vigorous and cosmopolitan trading post.

Filled with details about the lives and trials of famous historical figures such as Henry Hudson, after whom the Hudson...more

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Jan 25, 2011 Phillip rated it 5 of 5 stars

It is fair to say that everything we learned in school about the settling of the new world was wrong. Ever wonder where the founder's ideals came from? I mean the ones we hold so dear in our modern world... open and free commerce, the ability of the individual born destitute to raise their station through their works, the ability to own and profit from land, to open a pub, trade with merchants... and above all, to live free. This book gave me new-found pride as an American - it is yet another ea...more

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May 25, 2012 Sophie McCook rated it 4 of 5 stars

Imagining Manhattan Island as an unspoilt wilderness of trees, brooks, meadows, bears and wolves makes this book the captivating time capsule that it is. The author has worked closely with the translator of these rare archives that are only now being released. We hear that Wall Street is where the palisade wall was situated. A few of the early protagonists such as the stubborn Dutch loyalist, Stuyvessant and the brave New Worlder, Jonas Bronck are highlighted in the city scape (In The Bronx) and...more

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May 02, 2010 Jake rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

In "Island at the Center of the World", Russell Shorto makes a powerful argument that the cultural values of the New Amsterdam colony are critical constituents of modern American Society. His book his very engaging, particularly given the vast scope of material it covers: the geopolitics of the 17th century, biographies of all the major players in New Amsterdam, descriptions of the colony, as well as other locations central to the story like London and The Hague. Much of the energy of the book c...more

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Jun 06, 2010 Jens rated it 3 of 5 stars

I should be the perfect reader for this book. I'm a U.S. citizen, former New Yorker, living in the Netherlands, with an interest in biography and large-scale history. When the author navigates me around Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Hague and Amsterdam, these are not unknown spots for me. And I was interested throughout the book, and intrigued by the thesis - the roots of tolerant democracy in the U.S. are Dutch. Intrigued, but not sold. Because he spends much more time on the roots of cookies and co...more

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Aug 17, 2012 Debbie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was a little slow at the start but then it picked up. It was a fascinating story and I learned many details about the early history of New York state. It is a first rate book because of the extensive research that the author put in before he wrote it. What was most interesting was learning how much of the modern New York has come from its Dutch roots - acceptance and tolerance of other cultures and religions, the melting pot that began in the 1600s and the rights of citizens to have a...more

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Jul 07, 2012 Aspasia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Staten Eylandt

Lange Eylandt

Breuckelen

Bronck

Jonker/Yonkeer

These Dutch names look strange to our American eyes, but we know them by their Angilcized versions: Staten Island, Long Island, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Yonkers. It has been said that history is written by the victors and this is especially true about the history of Manhattan before the English took over in 1664. What most Americans know about the Dutch rule of Manhattan has been reduced to a few paragraphs in our history books: Peter Stuyvesa...more

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Jan 11, 2010 Antonio Baclig rated it 4 of 5 stars

Americans are used to thinking of their country as a child of England. Shorto makes the case, drawing on historical documents that have only come to light in the last 30 years, that this is not entirely so: the Dutch colony of New Netherland, which became New York when the English captured it in 1664, was already a growing hub of trade and multiculturalism in a way that could only come from a Dutch colony, and has left a lasting imprint on America. It's a very interesting idea that probably has...more

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Jan 18, 2013 John rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I picked this book up at a used book store. I am sure glad I did. This is the best history book I have read in a long time. In part, it is because it filled so many gaps in my historical knowledge of the 1600s including Dutch, English as well as Dutch/English interaction (and of course early American colonial development.) The book introduces new material; its exciting to read about new records being found and translated as we speak. It introduces amazing new characters, particularly Adrian van...more

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Jul 28, 2011 Iñaki Tofiño rated it 5 of 5 stars

Great piece of scholarship. Everybody knows that New York used to be New Amsterdam, but there isn't much to read about the Dutch settlement and the history of the city before it was handled to the British.
Relying on the amazing translation work of Dutch Manhattan documents conducted by Charles Gehring for the last thirty years, Russell Shorto creates a magnificent narrative, full of data and anecdotes, which reads like an adventure novel, with amazing characters such a Hudson, Stuyvesant, Downin...more

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Dec 19, 2011 Leah rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: didn-t-finish

Someone needs to define "socal history" for Mr Shorto. Laying out the politics and governmental bickering of colonial Holland is interesting from a certain perspective, but I was promised an untold history of daily life early New York life, not the meeting schedule of early city governement. The subject matter might have worked better in the hands of a more capable author, but he does a shoddy job of sketching out the personailities of the men he lingers on, reliing on cliche and repetition to o...more

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May 13, 2013 Debbie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Thanks Russell Shorto for an absolutely fascinating look into the Dutch history of New York.
And thank you Charles Gehring for your translating since the 1970's.
I really enjoyed your history and comments on all of the international players in the development of North America.
I looked at my high school history book and there was 1 paragraph regarding Peter Minuit. No wonder we in America do not know our real history.
I had previously read about the colony of New Sweden so that helped tremendously w...more

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About Russell Shorto

Russell Shorto is the author of a book on the Dutch origins of New York City: The Island at the Center of the World. His most recent work, published in October 2008, is Descartes' Bones, which traces the wanderings of the literal skull and bones of René Descartes through three and a half centuries, and also traces the metaphorical remains of the French philosopher in the modern world.
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Books by Russell Shorto

Descartes' Bones: A Skeletal History of the Conflict Between Faith and Reason

Saints and Madmen: How Pioneering Psychiatrists Are Creating a New Science of the Soul

Geronimo And The Struggle For Apache Freedom

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title link	preview: The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45000.The_Island_at_the_Center_of_the_World?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320524373l/45000.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45000.The_Island_at_the_Center_of_the_World?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America by Russell Shorto[/url]

The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America

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