The Guardian Bookshop makes over 180,000 books available with up to 40% discount, as well as highlighting some of our favourite publications in each genre.
Find out more.
An exploration of the competition and assimilation between the Netherlands and England during the 17th century. Denouncing the traditional view that the rise of England took place at the expense of the Dutch, it instead argues that the decline of the Dutch trading empire was a natural progression.
Synopsis
A fascinating exploration of the relationship of competition and assimilation between the Netherlands and England during the 17th century, revealing the ways in which Dutch tolerance, resilience and commercial acumen effectively conquered Britain by reshaping its intellectual landscape, long before Dutch monarchs sat on the English throne.
Book Details
Publisher:
HARPER COLLINS PUBLISHERS
Publication Date:
19-Feb-2009
ISBN:
9780007197347
Guardian review
Going Dutch
Judith Rice the guardian Sat 28 February 2009
In November 1688, Prince William of Orange, of the Dutch Republic, landed in Devon with an invasion force of 500 ships and thousands of men and marched on London, whereupon King James II fled. William and his wife Mary (James's daughter) were offered the throne, and London remained under Dutch military occupation until 1690. How did this "invasion" come to be known as the "Glorious Revolution", a peaceful restoration of order? Lisa Jardine, with skill, eloquence, and lots of illustrations, answers by uncovering a cultural cohesion between England and Holland that predated and underpinned their political union. The detail of dynastic intermarriage is laid out so clearly that its significance is obvious. With the personnel in place, the accounts of Anglo-Dutch exchange in architecture and astronomy, painting and banking, make perfect, intricate sense. The detail is fascinating, the historical significance broad - for Jardine shows how grand events may be shaped by hidden relationships long obscured.
