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The Dutch Republic in the Eighteenth Century: Decline, Enlightenment, and Revolution
Following its brilliant Golden Age, the Netherlands' history in the eighteenth century has seemed to many historians to be one of decline and a time when Dutch politics were dominated by foreign influences. Yet this was a period when the Netherlands served as a major publishing center for enlightened ideas and when the Dutch Revolution of 1787 anticipated that of the French. Bringing together sixteen essays by a distinguished group of Dutch and American historians, the present volume restores a neglected chapter in the history of the Netherlands and makes a major contribution to our understanding of the Enlightenment as a European-not merely a French or an English-phenomenon.Individual chapters offer nuanced answers to such questions Who were the Patriotten who led the Dutch Revolution? What social and cultural factors made them seek to overturn the institutions of the ancien régime? Did their writings and actions mark a fundamental break with the cultural values of their nation and time? Finally, what can the Dutch story tell us about the complex relationships between the culture of the Enlightenment and the democratic revolutions that ushered in the political and social institutions of the modern nation-state?W. van den Berg; Christine van Boheemen-Saaf; Wayne Ph. te Brake; Willem Th. M. Frijhoff; Frans Grijzenhout; Margaret C. Jacob; Jan A. F. de Jongste; E. H. Kossmann; Wijnand W. Mijnhardt; Eco O. G. Haitsma Mulier; ]. G. A. Pocock; Jeremy D. Popkin; Nicolaas C. F. van Sas; H. A. M. Snelders; Wyger R. E. Velema; I. J. H. Worst.
- GenresHistory
365 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1992
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
Did not finish
February 12, 2022I tried! I read the first 40 pages of this. Sadly, my interest in the subject matter wasn't strong enough to slog through such a very academic work.
It's popular to make fun of how little Americans (and perhaps English-speakers more broadly) know about the world, but frustratingly difficult to find history available in English and written for a non-specialist audience that's focused on places other than England, the U.S., and to a lesser extent, France. You can find scattered popular histories and biographies here and there for some of the larger countries in the world, but typically focused only on particular eras and dependent on the interests of just a few writers and their publishers. I think I generally knew this to be the case for non-western countries, but before doing a deep dive into nonfiction works about the 18th century, had no idea how true it was even for privileged northwestern European countries like the Netherlands. As a non-academic seeking to read about the era (or pretty much any era prior to the 19th or perhaps even 20th century) you wind up with endless histories and biographies of English people, with occasional jaunts abroad that rarely coalesce into a detailed or complete picture.
None of which, of course, should discourage actual academic readers looking at this book! More power to you. But if you can learn to write for the general public, some of us would be much obliged.
It's popular to make fun of how little Americans (and perhaps English-speakers more broadly) know about the world, but frustratingly difficult to find history available in English and written for a non-specialist audience that's focused on places other than England, the U.S., and to a lesser extent, France. You can find scattered popular histories and biographies here and there for some of the larger countries in the world, but typically focused only on particular eras and dependent on the interests of just a few writers and their publishers. I think I generally knew this to be the case for non-western countries, but before doing a deep dive into nonfiction works about the 18th century, had no idea how true it was even for privileged northwestern European countries like the Netherlands. As a non-academic seeking to read about the era (or pretty much any era prior to the 19th or perhaps even 20th century) you wind up with endless histories and biographies of English people, with occasional jaunts abroad that rarely coalesce into a detailed or complete picture.
None of which, of course, should discourage actual academic readers looking at this book! More power to you. But if you can learn to write for the general public, some of us would be much obliged.
Displaying 1 of 1 review