The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age - Softcover

Schama, Simon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0006861369 ISBN 13: 9780006861362

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2004

Synopsis

This is the book that made Simon Schama’s reputation when first published in 1987. A historical masterpiece, it is an epic account of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age of Rembrandt and van Diemen.

In this brilliant work that moves far beyond the conventions of social or cultural history, Simon Schama investigates the astonishing case of a people’s self-invention.

He shows how, in the 17th-century, a modest assortment of farming, fishing and shipping communities, without a shared language, religion or government, transformed themselves into a formidable world empire – the Dutch republic.

About this title

Review:

‘Simon Schama writes with grace and wit, and his enthusiasms are contagious.’ Anita Brookner

‘Schama is one of the few historians writing today who can recreate the mentalité of another culture.’ Jonathan Miller

‘One reads it all with mounting enjoyment and at the end one’s sense of Dutch civilisation in the Golden Age of Rembrandt and van Diemen is not just salted and enriched – but remade.’ Robert Hughes

‘This is history on the grand scale, and like all generously conceived historical works leaves us reflecting about the present as well as the past.’ John Gross, New York Times

‘Seldom has a people opened its doors so wide. A performance on the epic scale.’ Independent

Synopsis:

The book that first made Simon Schama's reputation when first published in 1987. This historical masterpiece is an epic account of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age of Rembrandt and van Diemen. 'This is history in the same spirit as Braudel, Ginzburg, Ladurie and Le Goff. It seems to me that Schama is one of the few historians writing in English today who can recreate the distinctive mentalite of another culture. ' Jonathan MillerIn this BRILLIANT work that moves far beyond the conventions of social or cultural history, Simon Schama investigates the astonishing case of a people's self-invention. He shows how, in the seventeenth century, a modest assortment of farming, fishing and shipping communities, without a shared language, religion or government, transformed themselves into a formidable world empire -- the Dutch republic.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0006861369
• ISBN 13: 9780006861362
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 720