Discovering the Dutch - On Culture and Society of the Netherlands

What are the most salient and sparkling facts about the Netherlands that those interested in its history need to know? This volume tackles the heart of this question of Dutch identity through a number of essential themes that run through the culture, history, and society of the Netherlands.

Dutch Masters: The Age of Rembrandt

Holland in the 17th century was home to the most remarkable concentration of artistic talent and accomplishment in modern history. From this tiny land came the great masters Vermeer, Frans Hals, Jan Steen, Pieter de Hooch, and Rembrandt, as well as an abundant assembly of memorable artists.
To this day, these compelling pictures take our breath away—an unrivalled heritage of portraits, still lifes, landscapes, marine paintings, and profoundly observant images of everyday Dutch life that continue to grace museums throughout Europe and America.

Literacy in Everyday Life - Reading and Writing in Early Modern Dutch Diaries

Until recently, historians of reading have concentrated on book ownership and trying to map out a history of who read what. The reading experience has been a subject more difficult to research. As has been pointed out before, egodocuments can be valuable sources in this case. Following this lead, Literacy in Everyday Life focuses upon four early modern Dutch diaries in which readers document their daily life and in which they recount their reading. In the analysis, other ways in which these four readers communicated are also addressed, especially speech and writing.

Attached to the World: On the Anchoring and Strategy of Dutch Foreign Policy

Few other countries are so interrelated with the World around us in political, economic, and social respects as the Netherlands. This means that the Dutch government needs to be alert in its response to the risks and opportunities presented by a rapidly changing world. Addressing this issue, The Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) is offering some reflections in this report, guided by the question how the Netherlands can develop a foreign policy strategy that matches the changing power relations in the world and the radically changed character of international relations. 

The Japanese Occupation of Borneo, 1941-45

The Japanese occupation of both British Borneo – Brunei, Sarawak and North Borneo – and Dutch Borneo in 1941 to 1945 is a much understudied subject. Of particular interest is the occupation of Dutch Borneo, governed by the Imperial Japanese Navy that had long-term plans for ‘permanent possession’.