Netherlands Books

I had to buy this for an art class on Northern Baroque Art. I wasn't really into Flemish art, and had not known a lot about this area of art, but this book really helped me to learn a lot about Flemish paintings and painters. The best thing about it is the way that it is organized. It goes by different areas of painting, such as portraits, genre, landscapes, etc. I found this setup more helpful. I also have another book by this company, called Art and Architecture in France 1500-1700 by Blunt and that is categorized by century. I guess that makes some sense, but for me it was a little more confusing. In that book I had to keep skipping around to find the portraits and landscapes. Maybe it was the way the class was set up, but I really found the book on Flemish painters a lot better in composition and organization. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone taking a Northern Baroque art class, whether or not the class calls for this book. It really adds a lot to the course because it has many of the well known and the lesser artists. I would also recommend this book to anyone already interested in this area of art because it goes into great detail without getting boring.

I'm preparing for my second trip to Amsterdam, so when reviewing guidebooks for this second trip, I have some idea of the places the guidebook is discussing.

Fodor's Gay Guide to Amsterdam is the best of the many guidebooks I've reviewed. It is well organized, and Andrew Collins communicates in his writing how this exciting city really is, a vibrant wonderful place with endless things to see and do, for anyone, gay or straight.

If you're looking for a good guide to make your trip a success, then this is the guide for you.

On a recent visit to Amsterdam I was not able, as things turned out, to revisit the Anne Frank house at 263 Prinsengracht, where she and her family hid from the Gestapo in 1943 and 1944. However it did prompt me to read this touching, dignified and informative piece of research, astonishingly only now receiving its first notice here. Ernst Schnabel had identified a total of 78 people who knew Anne Frank and first published his account of what they told him in 1959. Two of these he did not choose to try to interview, and small wonder. One he believes to have been the man who probably betrayed the Franks to the nazis, the other of whom `was indisputably one of the executioners', which I take to mean one of the guards or other staff at Belsen, where Anne Frank actually died from illness or grief or both. Of the remaining 76 he found only 42. Some had certainly died, very few from natural causes, the others were untraceable. Those interviewed naturally include Otto Frank, Anne's father and the only survivor among the family, and also Miep and Elli and others of their protectors familiar from the play and film The Diary of Anne Frank. Schnabel's purpose is to give their recollections in their own words, touching in some of the gaps in our knowledge of her from her early childhood up to her final incarceration and death. The names of contributors other than those already known are disguised, but documented in the archives of a firm of lawyers.

I would not have expected the author of such a book to be able to restrict himself literally to his stated purpose of giving us a portrait of a young girl, especially as the reminiscences are fragmentary in any case. It would not have been possible not to talk about the behaviour of the nazis and their collaborators, or about the conditions at Auschwitz and Belsen. However Schnabel's tone is a model of calm and restraint, his horror and incredulity at how any human beings could behave to other human beings in such a way all the more effective for his rejection of hyperbole and for the complete absence of sentimentality, self-pity or mawkishness. Nor does he allow himself any conventional piety along the lines of purportedly telling his story `so that nothing of the kind can happen again'. This book predates the genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Yugoslavia and the Sudan, it is perfectly obvious that those prepared to do that kind of thing will do it anyway however much the rest of us talk about the Holocaust, and I credit him with the clearheadedness to know that. The interest of this short book is not a matter of revisiting scenes already well known, but lies in the fresh information it provides. Those of us accustomed to a dramatised scene of the Franks' arrest featuring blaring car horns, screeching brakes and the thump of a rifle-butt on the door will find a salutary corrective here, for one thing. The occupiers, Schnabel says, were practised and adept at this kind of thing by 1944, and his depiction of the sheer quietness of how it was done is something that is going to stay in my memory. The new contributions are fairly peripheral in one sense, but such a figure as Anne Frank deserves as good a biography as can be assembled, and I for one am grateful to have them.

Presumably there is not a lot more of the story to come to light. I would call this book exemplary in the way the author has gone about his task. He has been scrupulous in not prompting his witnesses, I accept absolutely the accuracy of his retelling of their accounts, and I admire his self-restraint in such additional comment as he permits himself. Whether I shall ever now revisit 263 Prinsengracht I very much doubt.

This volume catalogs a wide range of documents from twenty-two years of Fort Orange's records. The documents are clearly translated with useful notes (including notes on the translation) and excellent indices. The records show deeds transferring property, documents relating to debts of people associated with the settlement, and official (often quasi-official) correspondence. The indices are very useful, and the editor makes a number of useful comments on possible name variations.

I would very highly recommend this as educational source material for students learning how to use primary material. Also good for people doing genealogical work.

This is a great book! Buy it NOW!

Wow. What an amazing guide. The author has done a fantastic job expressing his passion for the city, and made sure that if you get this guide, you'll have a great experience in Amsterdam and will fall in love with it yourself.

If you are going to Amsterdam for the first time, you are lucky, because this city rocks. You always hear about the red light district and coffeeshops (where they sell weed), but once you are there, you realize that those are just the icing on the cake :). Really, if you get this guide and go through every "Neighborhood Walk" suggested by the author, you will understand what I'm talking about.

The guide is very compact, and has just the right blend of maps, pictures, descriptions, and reference information. I found myself using it over and over and over, so I definitely got my money worth.

In fact, I was so satisfied by this guide and the effectiveness of it, that anytime I'm going anywhere I try to get only the day-by-day guides. I've also tried out the ones for London, and San Francisco, and they were just as good.

Believe me, this is the guide for Amsterdam, you will love it!

Friesland is one of the Netherlands' twelve provinces. It's a coastal area. This lovely book of about 80 black and white photos is a joint project by two photographers.

Captions are in four languages, including German and English [I'm assuming one of the languages is Dutch, and I don't recognize the 4th, but it's not French].

From the preface: "..Special attention has been given to the small ancient towns, the coastline, the typical bell-towers in the graveyards, milkchurns and all those things the Frisians themselves take for granted."

Lots of water-oriented photos and many good portraits. Also architecture and boats, some wildlife photos, and a surprising number of milk cans. Nice to look at.

The Laser technology is the gate of the future success on electronic technilogy. It is the bryillian raw technlogy. It is the basic infrastructure of all electrnic technologies.

I work in a specialty beer store, where we sell domestic and imported beers and assorted paraphernalia. I'm also responsible for ordering the beers, and I've found this book, along with Michael Jackson' book on the same subject, to be essential tools in studying Belgian beers. Tim Webb and his associates have obviously put a lot of work into understanding these very distinctive beers, and whenever I've tested their perceptions against my own, I've been amazed at their consistency and good sense.

Anguished by the changes that take place after the Nazis occupy Holland, a brilliant university student falls in love with 19-year-old Karen. This sensitively written book shows how she waits for her Max after he escapes through enemy infested Europe to freedom and how, through their many letters, she follows him on his hazardous journey. Finally he reaches Southeast Asia where he fights with the Allies in the jungles of Indonesia. When tragedy strikes, Karen must decide to go on with her life. - from book's cover.