Rating: 
Summary: A TRUE MASTERPIECE
Review: By writing this book the author accomplished a true masterpiece (in the 17th century meaning) by describing the origins of wealth of one of the most affluent nations in the world: The Netherlands. His detailed account of the dynamics of The Netherland's social fabric in that time explains exactly why The Netherlands is the world's most successful nation in terms of high net worth per capita, standard of living and social culture. On social culture in particular the author's excellent explanation of the word "gezellig" explains that he grasped Dutch society in all its peculiar detail. One unsatisfactory result from reading this masterpiece is the urge to learn more about the more recent history of this magnificient country in the Rhine estuary as Schaamhaar's compelling description of the Dutch social history would indeed lerit reconciliation of the Dutch social roots with its current leading role in the world by showing a high tolerance to foreigners, polit! ical refugees, its softdrugs policy, its leading role in the sexual revolution banning all taboos, the successes of the Dutch national soccer team in the world championships in France and providing a sound answer to the question why travellers in any part of the world will always end up running into the ephimeral Dutch visitor and why the Dutch consider Belgians generally stupid etc.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful view on Dutch culture and insight on ours
Review: Ever wonder why London is a great metropolis? Well, the development of Amsterdam as a trading hub had a lot to do with it. This book goes into the intertwining of Dutch, English (and thus American) history and gives more information than you ever thought possible about Dutch culture.We usually think of tulips, windmills, cheese and wooden shoes when asked about the Netherlands. Most people don't know that during the late 1600's and during the 1700's, the Dutch were the powerhouse of Europe. They defined Trade with a capital "T" and spread goods, fads (tulip speculation--a bit like the dot-com pheonomenon of the 90's) and much, much more. The Dutch wealth explosion also created the true middle class, and the idea that wealth is created and not inherited. To understand American culture and history, you'd be well advised to read Simon Schama's book. It's enjoyable and sheds a lot of light on our own heritage.
Rating: 
Summary: Nurturing a new republic
Review: From a rich foundation of material and an exquisite writing style, Schama guides us through the formative years of the Dutch Republic. The politics of that creation, however, he leaves to others. Instead, he addresses the underlying conditions of Dutch society of the period. At the outset, he decrees he will avoid Culture in favour of culture. This welcome departure makes this book a treasure of information. However, it isn't a volume for the novice. Much background history in Enlightenment Europe in general and the Dutch role in particular, is required before tackling this book. That a beached whale can become a cultural artefact seems aberrant at first glance. The Dutch, as Calvinists, could find a moral message in a wide disparity of events. Whale beachings proved no exception. Pamphlets, articles, even books could make use of cetacean corpses to invoke metaphors of nationalism, extravagance, profit, indulgence and divine messages. Schama shows how easily the besieged Protestant nation at the edge of Catholic Europe found means to justify and define their existence. This form of thinking and expression gave the Dutch strength to sustain a novel experiment in society and nationhood. It also refutes the suggestion that the Dutch were governed by a dogmatist Calvinism. Flexibility and tolerance, no matter how often challenged, remained the foundation of Dutch culture. Against all odds, the Republic survived and flourished. The flourishing becomes the pivotal point in Schama's account. The influx of riches from global trade challenged aspects of Calvinist values. Extravagance was condemned, but not impaired. The lure of commerce was strong and the accumulation of wealth too rapid to be hampered. Calvinist ministers might rail at the influx of gold, but their wrath was constrained by a society manifestly stable. Excesses remained rare as the burghers pursued their wealth soberly. Ostentation, Schama notes, didn't mean extravagance. As Schama clearly describes, flourishing trade opened minds as well as purses. Opinions flourished with bank accounts and the Dutch Enlightenment attracted exiles from more dogmatic societies. He pulls together many threads in weaving his tapestry of Dutch culture, enhanced by numerous illustrations conveying the wealth of allegorical images used to influence social and national mores. The varieties of thinking meant that the Dutch Republic came into existence without an underlying ideology or dogma. Even the Republic's borders remained too fluid to establish a certain national identity from them. If there are faults in Schama's sweeping account, they are few, but significant. An introductory chapter on the chronology of events would ease the novice's entry to this weighty narrative. His focus, while a needed supplement to general histories, is a bit tight. He spends many pages recounting the history of a single midwife as exemplary. On the other hand, the role of immigrants is given short shrift. Jewish contacts in Iberia and the New World were an important facet of economic growth. Trade with the Far East is granted only marginally more attention. As the roots of "the embarrassment of riches" one would expect more attention be given them. He ignores many major thinkers, perhaps slotting them into his disdained Culture. Yet many major figures of the era go begging for ink space in his book - Spinoza, Descartes and others were not writing for themselves. Even posthumously, their opinions affected the thinking of literate Dutch - and in a burgher society, there were many of those. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Rating:
Summary: Nurturing a new republic
Review: From a rich foundation of material and an exquisite writing style, Schama guides us through the formative years of the Dutch Republic. The politics of that creation, however, he leaves to others. Instead, he addresses the underlying conditions of Dutch society of the period. At the outset, he decrees he will avoid Culture in favour of culture. This welcome departure makes this book a treasure of information. However, it isn't a volume for the novice. Much background history in Enlightenment Europe in general and the Dutch role in particular, is required before tackling this book. That a beached whale can become a cultural artefact seems aberrant at first glance. The Dutch, as Calvinists, could find a moral message in a wide disparity of events. Whale beachings proved no exception. Pamphlets, articles, even books could make use of cetacean corpses to invoke metaphors of nationalism, extravagance, profit, indulgence and divine messages. Schama shows how easily the besieged Protestant nation at the edge of Catholic Europe found means to justify and define their existence. This form of thinking and expression gave the Dutch strength to sustain a novel experiment in society and nationhood. It also refutes the suggestion that the Dutch were governed by a dogmatist Calvinism. Flexibility and tolerance, no matter how often challenged, remained the foundation of Dutch culture. Against all odds, the Republic survived and flourished. The flourishing becomes the pivotal point in Schama's account. The influx of riches from global trade challenged aspects of Calvinist values. Extravagance was condemned, but not impaired. The lure of commerce was strong and the accumulation of wealth too rapid to be hampered. Calvinist ministers might rail at the influx of gold, but their wrath was constrained by a society manifestly stable. Excesses remained rare as the burghers pursued their wealth soberly. Ostentation, Schama notes, didn't mean extravagance. As Schama clearly describes, flourishing trade opened minds as well as purses. Opinions flourished with bank accounts and the Dutch Enlightenment attracted exiles from more dogmatic societies. He pulls together many threads in weaving his tapestry of Dutch culture, enhanced by numerous illustrations conveying the wealth of allegorical images used to influence social and national mores. The varieties of thinking meant that the Dutch Republic came into existence without an underlying ideology or dogma. Even the Republic's borders remained too fluid to establish a certain national identity from them. If there are faults in Schama's sweeping account, they are few, but significant. An introductory chapter on the chronology of events would ease the novice's entry to this weighty narrative. His focus, while a needed supplement to general histories, is a bit tight. He spends many pages recounting the history of a single midwife as exemplary. On the other hand, the role of immigrants is given short shrift. Jewish contacts in Iberia and the New World were an important facet of economic growth. Trade with the Far East is granted only marginally more attention. As the roots of "the embarrassment of riches" one would expect more attention be given them. He ignores many major thinkers, perhaps slotting them into his disdained Culture. Yet many major figures of the era go begging for ink space in his book - Spinoza, Descartes and others were not writing for themselves. Even posthumously, their opinions affected the thinking of literate Dutch - and in a burgher society, there were many of those. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Rating:
Summary: The New Jerusalem...
Review: I was born in 1942, and my earliest memories are of troop transports and the soldiers guarding the TVA dam where my grandfather was superintendent. All my mother's brothers went to Europe to fight the war. I can still hear my mother leaning over and telling me how bad Hitler was because he crushed the Netherlands. My mother was of Dutch descent. When they were small children, her grandparents had immigrated from Zeeland and Groningen in the 1870s. Their families settled in Holland Michigan. Mom and her family talked about the Netherlands and the Queen as if they had never left. Mother would point to our rosy cheeks and say "Look at that Dutch complexion." They cooked Dutch food, grew Dutch bulbs and attended the Dutch Reformed Church. Although some of them were still alive when I was a child, I can barely remember my great grandparents. When I visited Amsterdam a few years ago, I bought Simon Schama's book THE EMBARRASMENT OF RICHES. It is THE KEY to understanding my roots and explains to me why I think the way I do (I am a Democrat). Schama writes of a time when things were more or less wonderful in the Netherlands. Yes, there was war. The "super" powers could not keep their hands off the Dutch provinces. And plague was constantly lurking--even Rembrandt's family did not escape. But, for the first time in history, a real democracy began to bloom. The Netherlands IS the birthplace of Democracy. It was the first place in the world to actually practice religious tolerance. During it's golden age, it became a destination for thousands of refugees. The Dutch economy expanded and personal wealth increased and the Netherlands experienced the first "middle-class" with middle class values--those same values captured later in the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. What struck me most forcefully about RICHES is that the U.S. today is so much like the Netherlands of 400 years ago. The economy has been expanding since WWII, employment is at all time highs, immigrants have come at unprecendented rates, and the middle class has grown. Never before have so many had so much. Schama doesn't preach, but it's easy to see the similarities. And, it's easy to see that the U.S. could suffer the same fate as the Netherlands. No, there isn't a huge superpower like France or Spain waiting to destroy the country. Today, the enemy is different--AIDS, religious fundamentalism, intolerance. Schama says the Dutch saw their country as the New Jerusalem. The Dutch were sure they were God's chosen people, just as the Jews had been in the Old Testament. Some Americans believe they are now God's chosen people--the first settlement in New England was named "Salem" for Jerusalem. I started out to find my roots in EMBARRASSMENT, and I did. The book provided me with an enormous amount of information about the Dutch, their thinking and how it came to pervade the thinking in America today. The Census Bureau says Dutch is one of the top 10 ancestry groups in the country. The descendents of the 16th Century Dutch have built the New Jerusalem. The question is--will it endure or will it perish like it's predecessor?
Rating:
Summary: The New Jerusalem...
Review: I was born in 1942, and my earliest memories are of troop transports and the soldiers guarding the TVA dam where my grandfather was superintendent. All my mother's brothers went to Europe to fight the war. I can still hear my mother leaning over and telling me how bad Hitler was because he crushed the Netherlands. My mother was of Dutch descent. When they were small children, her grandparents had immigrated from Zeeland and Groningen in the 1870s. Their families settled in Holland Michigan. Mom and her family talked about the Netherlands and the Queen as if they had never left. Mother would point to our rosy cheeks and say "Look at that Dutch complexion." They cooked Dutch food, grew Dutch bulbs and attended the Dutch Reformed Church. Although some of them were still alive when I was a child, I can barely remember my great grandparents. When I visited Amsterdam a few years ago, I bought Simon Schama's book THE EMBARRASMENT OF RICHES. It is THE KEY to understanding my roots and explains to me why I think the way I do (I am a Democrat). Schama writes of a time when things were more or less wonderful in the Netherlands. Yes, there was war. The "super" powers could not keep their hands off the Dutch provinces. And plague was constantly lurking--even Rembrandt's family did not escape. But, for the first time in history, a real democracy began to bloom. The Netherlands IS the birthplace of Democracy. It was the first place in the world to actually practice religious tolerance. During it's golden age, it became a destination for thousands of refugees. The Dutch economy expanded and personal wealth increased and the Netherlands experienced the first "middle-class" with middle class values--those same values captured later in the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. What struck me most forcefully about RICHES is that the U.S. today is so much like the Netherlands of 400 years ago. The economy has been expanding since WWII, employment is at all time highs, immigrants have come at unprecendented rates, and the middle class has grown. Never before have so many had so much. Schama doesn't preach, but it's easy to see the similarities. And, it's easy to see that the U.S. could suffer the same fate as the Netherlands. No, there isn't a huge superpower like France or Spain waiting to destroy the country. Today, the enemy is different--AIDS, religious fundamentalism, intolerance. Schama says the Dutch saw their country as the New Jerusalem. The Dutch were sure they were God's chosen people, just as the Jews had been in the Old Testament. Some Americans believe they are now God's chosen people--the first settlement in New England was named "Salem" for Jerusalem. I started out to find my roots in EMBARRASSMENT, and I did. The book provided me with an enormous amount of information about the Dutch, their thinking and how it came to pervade the thinking in America today. The Census Bureau says Dutch is one of the top 10 ancestry groups in the country. The descendents of the 16th Century Dutch have built the New Jerusalem. The question is--will it endure or will it perish like it's predecessor?
Rating:
Summary: Tulipmania, Beached Whales, and Family Life
Review: I've lived in the Netherlands for four years, and found this book to be both delightful and illuminating. Particularly for expats living here in the Netherlands, it sets a good base for understanding Dutch life-- but I think it's the sort of book that anyone who loves history would enjoy. Embarassment of Riches focuses on almost every element of Dutch life-- political sphere, standard of living, role of women, treatment of children, moral taboos, legal standards, attitudes towards money and so much more. The writing is direct, stylish, and witty and the illustrations are well-chosen and clearly add to the point of the author.
Rating:
Summary: Simon Schama Riches
Review: Just like everything this extraordinary writer has published, "An Embarrassment of Riches" is an astonishingly brilliant, insightful and thought-provoking cultural history. I wait with hunger for his books; fortunately they tend to be five-course dinners with dessert, brandy and cigars afterwards. "An Embarrassment" is just such a literary and historical feast. I cannot recommend Mr. Schama's books enough.
Rating:
Summary: Simon Schama Riches
Review: Just like everything this extraordinary writer has published, "An Embarrassment of Riches" is an astonishingly brilliant, insightful and thought-provoking cultural history. I wait with hunger for his books; fortunately they tend to be five-course dinners with dessert, brandy and cigars afterwards. "An Embarrassment" is just such a literary and historical feast. I cannot recommend Mr. Schama's books enough.
Rating:
Summary: a glutton's delight: too much, but oh so good
Review: Massive and rambling, this is a history book without very finely drawn parameters. Schama, in my reading, wanted to cover the whole of a unique humanist culture - tolerant, intelligent, united by outside threats and not so much by Calvinism, and loosely structured in the era of absolutism. Focusing largely on paintings, prints, and writings, Schama offers a dazzling tour - the only trouble is, he seems to want to cover everything, and in the process the thread of narrative is lost from the very beginning in all the luscious details. While it is far better than Landscape and Memory in terms of unity of theme, there are long passages where it is near-impossilbe to tell where schama wants to go or what he really has to say. At its best, the book offers lovely descriptions of such varied subjects as midwives, a brief fascination with beached whales, sex, diet, and charity, to name just a few. Many of the details along the way that need explanation are very briefly referred to, such as the 80-year War of independence from Spain, the difficulties with France as Louis XIV sought to expand his national territory, and the fabulous technological achievement of reclaiming much of the land from sea silt. The reader is treated to a grand political experiment along with the art. WHen I next go there, my experience will be immeasurably enriched. However, at its worst, Schama appeared to me to be showing off his erudition, which is truly incredible and hence describing way way too much while not covering more of the basics. While this certainly points to the weaknesses of my own education in history, I doubt that many readers would know the mechanisms of Dutch economic superiority or why the Tulip mania could occur there and not in Antwerp or Venice. Instead, for example, Schama devotes over 30 pages to describing how much they ate, drank, and smoked referring innumerable obscure artists and interpreting all of the details of composition and subject matter in individual works. Yes, the prose is luminous, but why so awfully much??! It is really more of a multi-layered essay that will have to be re-read, if the reader has time and the will to invest in it. Moreover, the end of the book is rushed and becomes less and less coherent at the moment when the reader is hoping that it will somehow get all tied together with an overview. The references in the last 100 pages become more obscure and recondite, requiring ever greater knowledge on the part of the reader as explanations disappear. And the epilogue did absolutely nothing for me and was for the most part incomprehensible. Recommended with these caveats in mind. It is not for beginners! But the pleasures are many and it will change your view of Holland forever, as a great book should.
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