Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland’s Glory - Hardcover

Jardine, Lisa

3.5

271 ratings by Goodreads

9780007197323: Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland’s Glory

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007197322 ISBN 13: 9780007197323

Publisher: HarperPress, 2008

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A fascinating exploration of the relationship of competition and assimilation between England and the Netherlands during the 17th century, revealing how Dutch tolerance, resilience and commercial acumen effectively conquered England by permanently reshaping the intellectual landscape long before Dutch monarchs sat on the English throne.

Working backwards from the bloodless revolution that set William and Mary of Orange on the English throne in 1688, this bold and ambitious work redefines the history of cultural and commercial interconnection between two of the world’s most powerful trading empires at a time of great intellectual and geographical discovery.

Weaving together the lives of the great thinkers of the time, Jardine demonstrates how individuals such as Anton van Leeuwenhoek, Christiaan Huygens and Margaret Cavendish, usually depicted as instances of isolated genius, in fact evolved within a context of easy Anglo-Dutch exchange that laid the groundwork for the European Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution.

This fascinating history of big ideas and remarkable individuals denounces the traditional view that the rise of England as a world power took place at the expense of the Dutch, asserting instead that what is usually interpreted as the decline of the Dutch trading empire was in fact a ‘passing on’ of the baton to an England expanding in power and influence. In so doing, Jardine not only challenges traditional interpretations of the role of the British Empire in Enlightenment Europe, but also raises probing questions about the position in which post-Empire Britain finds itself today.

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Review:

‘At the heart of Lisa Jardine’s beautifully written and illustrated new book is a wonderfully vivid and richly layered account of 17th-century cultural interactions between England and the Dutch.’ Times Higher Education

‘In Lisa Jardine’s stimulating survey of Anglo-Dutch cross-currents, the events of 1688, which put William, ‘Stadtholder’ of the Dutch Republic, on the English throne along with his wife Mary, are ultimately seen less as an invasion, and more as a merger of two societies with a great deal in common.’ Waterstones Books Quarterly

‘[A] meticulous study...the essential point of the book...lies in its perception of a larger culture that joined Holland and England. They were united both in theory and in practice across a whole range of pursuits...It is a remarkable phase of 17th century culture that has generally been overlooked. In ‘Going Dutch’ it is brought back to life.’ The Times

‘An exciting vision and the way Jardine describes these ‘circuits of transmission’ makes one long to have been alive in the 17th century...[a] stimulating book [which] generates a long list of new questions.’ Daily Telegraph

‘Jardine remarks that her book has merely ‘scratched the surface’ of her chosen subject. This is unduly modest: in fact, it digs far deeper and unearths far more...than this recusatio would suggest. That there is more yet to be uncovered is not a criticism of this book, but a testimony to the extraordinary breadth, richness and complexity of the terrain its author has mapped out and made her own.’ Literary Review

‘Jardine has numerous beautifully researched tales to tell about the cultural exchanges which Hugyens facilitated...this fascinating study will and should inspire further research into our Dutch heritage.’ Dianne Purkiss, The Independent

From the Back Cover:

On November 5, 1688, William of Orange, Protestant ruler of the Dutch Republic, landed at Torbay in Devon with a force of twenty thousand men. The Glorious Revolution that followed forced James II to abdicate, and William and his wife, Mary, were jointly crowned king and queen on April 11, 1689. How was it that this almost bloodless coup took place with such apparent ease yet was not recognized as the full-blooded invasion and conquest it undoubtedly was?

In this wide-ranging book, Lisa Jardine assembles new research in political and social history, together with the histories of art, music, gardening, and science, to show how Dutch tolerance, resourcefulness, and commercial acumen had effectively conquered Britain long before William and his English wife arrived in London. Going Dutch is the remarkable story of the relationship between two of Europe's most important colonial powers at the dawn of the modern age.

Throughout the seventeenth century, Holland and England were engaged in an energetic commercial and cultural exchange that survived three Anglo-Dutch wars. Dutch influence also permanently reshaped England's cultural landscape. Whether through scientific discoveries, the design of royal palaces and gardens, or the introduction of works by the greatest painters of the age--Rubens, Rembrandt, and Van Dyck among them--the England we know today owes an extraordinary amount to its fierce competitor across the "narrow sea."

Going Dutch demonstrates how individuals, such as Christopher Wren, Isaac Newton, and successive generations of the remarkable Huygens family, who were usually represented as isolated geniuses working in the enclosed environment of their native country in fact developed their ideas within a context of the easy Anglo-Dutch relations that laid the vital groundwork for the European Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution.

Above all, Lisa Jardine tests the traditional view that the rise of England as a world power took place at the expense of the Dutch. She finds that it was a "handing off" of the baton of cultural and intellectual supremacy to a Britain expanding in international power and influence. Going Dutch not only challenges conventional interpretations of England's role in Enlightenment-era Europe but raises questions about the position in which post-empire Britain finds itself today.

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