Netherlands Books

Waller, known for his works on espionage during WWII, has written an easy readable, fast paced look at Felix Kersten and the plot to turn Himmler against Hitler. It is not so much a biography of Kersten as it is a detailed account of how Kersten, and also Schellenberg, attempted to get Himmler to disobey orders and even attempt to overthrow Hitler to make peace with the Western Allies. The book is a fascinating look at the in-fighting that occurred within the Nazi party structure and gives a good look at the resistance movement within Nazi Germany. The epilogue gives a good look at the post-war life of Kersten and some of the other key players.

The only negative is that the book is marred with typographical and grammatical errors which at times can make the read frustrating. Beyond that, well worth the read.

John Waller has done a great job of giving us an insiders look at the Nazi government at the top. His 'vehicle' is a fellow by the name of Felix Kersten, who. by one of those strange twists of history, became Heinrich Himmler's indispensable personal masseur. In that position Kersten, with connections to OSS and British intelligence, was able to influence Himmler. It is an outrageous story that provides exceptional insight in the personalities at the top of the Nazi machine.
The story has a particular relevance to this reviewer, as Kersten played a role in preventing the resettlement of millions of "irreconcilable" Dutchmen to Eastern Poland and the Ukraine in 1941 and 1942. The Dutch hated the Nazi occupiers, and their opposition and riots in 1941 had enraged Hitler. Kersten saw the documentation, was appalled, and adopted the strategy of convincing Himmler that his health would be at serious risk if he undertook such a demanding task. Himmler finally decided to persuade Hitler that Germany's logistical system would be over-taxed by mass-moving people across the continent while fighting the war on the Eastern front. The operation was postponed till after the war. This tale was thoroughly investigated by the Dutch Government after the war, and validated. Kersten was appropriately honored.
This vignette is only one of the many in the book. It was November 11, 1941, that Himmler emerged from the Fuhrer's presence and announced that the "destruction of the Jews is being actively planned." The occupied eastern territories "are to become free of Jews." These wartime orders in 1941 went well beyond the earlier decree in January 24, 1939, which intended to solve the 'Jewish question' by emigration and evacuation. Hitler's outbursts of temper and raving and ranting were often interpreted by his lieutenants as policy edicts to be carried out literally. The more one reads of what went on at the human level at the Nazi top, the more one is reminded of an insane asylum. How this Austrian misfit, Adolph Schickelgruber Hitler, unemployed in Vienna in 1913, cast into - and surviving - the traumatic trench warfare mass murder cauldrons of World War I, absorbing and caricaturing the prevailing cultural theories of racial blood purity, cranium indices denoting superior intelligence, and terror bombing (Douhet), and could then exploit the crisis of capitalism and the threat of communism by rising to the leadership of the German Reich -- and then driven by powerful paranoias, bring such misery to millions, particularly Poles, Russians, Germans, and others, and the Jewish compatriots that lived among them, defies staggering odds. I highly recommend this book. John Waller is a immensely respected OSS and CIA veteran, and author, who writes beautifully and with care, on a topic we should not forget.

Dr. Felix Kersten is a true World War II hero. Through his assigned job of being physical therapist to Heinrich Himmler, one of the most notorious, evil Nazi's of the war, read this fascinating true story of courage and manipulation. Kersten pounced on Himmler's naivete and prevented the persecution of thousands. Any history or war buff would love this book.

This well written and concise (less than 300 pages) book is a nice introduction to the great revolt of the Netherlands from the rule of the Hapsburg-Spanish Monarchy. Written by a well known expert on early modern Europe, The Dutch Revolt provides the relevant background detail, essential narrative, and analysis needed to understand the major features of the Dutch rebellion. Parker draws extensively on a largely Dutch and Belgian secondary literature unavailable to English speaking readers. A notable feature of this book is that Parker does a very nice job of portraying the war from the point of view of both major protagonists, that of the various Dutch leaders and that of the Spanish Court. Parker shows also the complex international quality of European politics in this period. Events in the Mediterranean, for example, had a large impact on Spanish policies in the Netherlands. Parker deals as well, briefly but insightfully, with the relevant social and religous history of the revolt, and with its aftermath, the emergence of the United Provinces (the northern Netherlands) as a great European and world power.

This is the best history ever written about the Dutch Revolt - a series of upheavals from 1568 to 1648 - which led to the independent United Provinces. This was Europes first republic which survived until the French Revolution.

The Dutch revolt is a pivotal event in European history that remains blurry and poorly understood by most people. Mr. Parker does an excellent job of clearly explaining the sequence of events as well as their context. A very readable style and a refreshingly objective perspective carry the story with just the right level of detail for the interested reader. I am very happy to have read this book and recommend it warmly to anybody interested in history.

In this book, C. R. Boxer describes the making of an empire which started in the war against the Spanish rule and in the struggle to dominate the sea trade in the Baltic Sea. From this, Dutchmen started spreading their presence overseas: in Africa, Caribbean, Indic Ocean and Latin America. Boxer analyses the motivations and the causes for the Dutch success in this enterprise.

I got this from my university's library, so I don't even know if you can still buy it. It was a good read, if you like history, of course. I read it because i'm going to be doing a study-abroad there and wanted to now some about the country.

The Netherlands was a mercantile republic forged on the seas, and this intriguing history chronicles the ups and downs of this densely-populated European nation in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Netherlands successfully through off the yolk of Spanish Royalists and Papists who held power over them. This fascinating historical narrative weaves together economic, political, social and religious history which makes for a extremely fascinating account of the 'The Dutch Seaborne Empire,' which miraculously spread in power and influence before retrenching after losing in the trade game and an influx of unemployed, job-seeking immigrants put an end to their maritime empire and prosperity. The book's author has a slight prejudice against Calvinists or Reformed Protestants since he feels a compulsion to address them usually as 'militants,' yet they did do a fairly good job at showing how Reformed Christianity shaped the Dutch work ethic and their actions on the world scene.

In 1939 as Nazi forces became a reality, the Jewish population through Europe faced options to flee and lose all or go into hiding. The author, a Holocaust survivor, faced this choice and her story follows her dark journey as she relates her teen years spent in terror when the Nazis invaded her neutral homeland of Holland. Any library strong in first-person Holocaust memoirs needs this.

This is a gripping true life memoir of a young Dutch girl named Flory and her life in German occupied-Netherlands. I listened to the unabridged audio edition of this novel, and it was very compelling. I found Flory to be a remarkably resilient and likeable woman. Her observations were insightful and pertinent. The Dutch Christians who hid her and tended her and her family through the war were quite brave.

The only thing missing was more about the relationship between Flory and her husband. I admit I am curious how their relationship fared under such harsh circumstances, especially after such a quick marriage.. I understand why the author did not include details, but I admit, that I am curious a bit about their situation, especially since they both seemed so young and married under duress.

I would recommend this to persons who are interested in educating themselves about wartime events and life in occupied Europe.

Flory A. Van Beek has written this memoir of the time she spent hidden from the Nazis. It is inspiring to read of her survival during World War II. I also am amazed by all the help various people gave her even though they were risking their own lives by helping her. After reading the book I saw on the internet that there may or may not be a television mini-series based on the book. I do so hope someone will make sure this story is told as widely as possible. A TV mini-series would be one way to do it. There are others. I just would like to see it done and the sooner the better while the author is still alive. Brenda Foust.

This painting inspired many theories and this book proposes one of them. It has many close-ups and excellent reproductions. Worth the price.

fantastic XL pictures
it is a great book and sorry that the publisher
will not reprint this book at the moment.
It is worth it.

This book is really mini, tiny and it works for a curious glimpse at this wonderful piece of art. It has no text and shows extracted parts of the piece that are zoomed in order to see the details. The printing is very good and colorful.

If you're looking for an interesting, readable, and spirited guide to the Netherlands, then look no further. Ron Charles has written a book that is bold enough to have real opinions to help prioritize where to go, stay and eat. No photos, no ads, just the important stuff. Enjoy.

This book was by far the best of the 4 travel guides we took to Holland. I would prefer more photos, but the info in the book was solid and much different than the other books. A great companion in our travels.

Open Road`s Holland Guide is the book you will ever need while traveling in Holland. It has very good discussions on history, art, sights and the bars and restaurants guides and hotel listings are also very good and informative. Ron Charles really know how to write and whets your apetite for the culture and doesn`t let you down.

In the spring of 1848, eleven-year-old Pieter Dekker's father announces that the family will be leaving their home in Holland and move to Michigan in search of religious freedom. Pieter doesn't want to leave his home, his school, his friends, and his dog. The journey is long and difficult, and all Pieter wants is to go home. During the journey, Pieter and his older sister, Elizabeth, meet ten-year-old Anna. Anna is trying to travel to Michigan on her own in search of her father, after her mother's death at sea. The Dekker family takes Anna in, determined to help her. They arrive in Michigan and find it is not what they expected, and Anna's father is not where she thought he would be. Can Pieter ever feel at home in this strange new land, and will Anna ever find her father?

Young readers who enjoy historical fiction, particularly those who especially enjoy immigrant stories, would most likely enjoy this book. It has a nice story with a good message in it. It would probably appeal more to boys as it focuses more on Pieter than Anna, but girls could enjoy it as well.

I have to admit that I was sceptical about this book. I picked it up for my 9 yo daughter because of the "Christian flavor" of the writing. I want to share my faith with my daughter through literature, but, unfortunately, some Christian books just aren't as well-written as more secular titles.

I'm happy to say that I was VERY PLEASED with this book! It was well-written with an engaging plot. I felt that the characters were well-developed. It was also appropriate to the recommended age-level. The main character, Pieter, grew in love and knowledge through his experiences.

I higly recommend this book!!

Pieter can't believe his ears. America? His parents wanted him to leave the place he loved; his friends, and worst of all, his dog Sep? He just couldn't go! It was impossible!
But a few weeks later he finds himself on a boat bound for America. One day while exploring the deck, he spies a young girl all by herself. Later he and his sister Elizabeth meet her and discover that her name is Anna, and she and her mother were on their way to America to meet her father, when her mother died at sea and now Anna was all alone. Pieter knows that he can't leave her like that, so he talks to his family and they agree to take her along with them.
They finally reach Michigan, and Pieter thinks that everything will finally be all right. But the days are long and hard and he has to work all day, from morning to night with no time for play or school. Pieter is angry with his father for everything, for making him leave his home and friends, for making him work so hard, and for trying to make Pieter forget his past and move on to new things. Pieter also has a hard time accepting Anna as one of the family.
Will Pieter ever accept America and his new sister Anna, and will he ever forgive his father for bringing him to such a hard place, and will Anna ever find her father? Find out in this exciting book!

I loved the story of Pieter and Anna, because it's about a boy who is suddenly uprooted from everything he knows and moved to a place he knows nothing about and couldn't possibly care less about it. I also liked the way in which the author didn't put any romantic tones in between Pieter and Anna, because I think it was right that he learned to accept her as a sister and not a future wife. This is a good, clean book, suitable for all ages.
My only recommendation is: Read It!!!!

I love these little city notebooks. I can carry it in my purse on my travels and it doesn't take up much room. It has a wonderful little city map that is quite useful. I love it!

Besides just being an excellent quality note book for recording your travels Moleskin includes a nice little map and indexes to organize essential information on your travels. Absolutely worth having....

This is a very unusual product and I would strongly encourage anyone considering getting one to be completely aware of what it is before they purchase it. First, if you are looking for a single travel guide to prepare you for your trip to New York (or anywhere else there is a guide for), this is very close to worthless, if not entirely worthless. I would call one's attention to the title of the product. It is a "Notebook." That means that most of the pages are blank. This literally is a book for taking notes in.

So what do you get when you buy this? Every book in the series follows the same format. First there is a personal information page with address, phone, allergies, family doctor, passport number, then map information with public transportation maps. Then follows information on the various forms of transportation with phone numbers and websites, including cabs, buses, other forms of public transportation, and airports. There are some blank itinerary pages, measurement and speed conversion charts, size conversion charts (for shoppers), then a long series of neighborhood maps, including an index. And that's it. The final two-thirds of the notebook are blank. The next 20 or so pages are completely blank and unlined for whatever use you want to put them to. Next come several pages intended for writing down names of restaurants, bars, museums, historical sites, hotels, or whatever. The book also comes with unlabeled tabs with stickers to use as desired (for theaters, concert halls, or whatever you desire) as well as tracing paper for, as the label says, "Itineraries or Whatever." Finally, there is the usual pocket at the back that is found in all Moleskine products.

For some people this is going to be an absolutely useless product. But for many this will be remarkably useful. In fact, I can envision two uses for this notebook. First, those who are planning a trip to one of the places for which Moleskine has produced a book. Let's say one has consulted the Blue guide, the Eyewitness Guide (by DK), a Rough Guide, the Michelin guide, and the Let's Go guide. Maybe you've bought all of these, making for five guides. No way do you want to drag all of these on your trip or more than one on your flight. So what might you do? You might take the Moleskin Notebook, record into it all the places you want to see, restaurants you want to dine at, museums you want to stroll through, and anything else you want to do while in your destination of choice, and record it there. So the Moleskine City Notebook can serve as a distillation of all the various travel guides, web sites, and other resources you have consulted. And instead of hauling about a large Fodor's guide, you can carry about this small Notebook that can easily fit into a backpack, purse, should bag, or even pocket.

The only downside is that the Moleskine City Notebook is only as good as you make it. If you do a good job of planning your trip, it will be filled to the brim with useful and helpful information. If not, it will be as unhelpful as you have made it.

There is a second use to which the City Notebook can be put to use, though it is not one for which it was primarily designed. You could use it for the city in which you live, should you live in one of the cities for which one is made. I live, for instance, in Chicago. I have bought one of these so that I can over time use it to record every bit of helpful information that I might find useful or helpful. I can record what hours the Seminary Co-Op Bookstore (the real one, not the trade version on 57th Street) is open. The hours for the Chicago Public Library and the Newberry Library. Phone numbers of restaurants and addresses of bars. And so on and so forth. Granted, these books will only benefit those who live in one of those cities, but for the U.S. New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington D.C., Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles are pretty populated areas.

So this is a very well conceived product though it absolutely has to be stressed that it is a specialized one. Please note: THIS ISN'T FOR EVERYONE. If you don't want to use the Notebook to plan your trip it is going to be very close to worthless. I'll emphasize again: this is only as good a product as you make it. But if you use it to help you plan your trip, it could be the single item you would most loathe to be without after your notebook.

This book is about a girl, Maria and how she got separated from her sister and escaped to Amsterdam. I learnded a couple of words in Portuguese. I really liked this book because it is adventurous. I recommend this book to any one who loves adventures. It is a great book.

Maria's story is a delicious mix from the above average. You'll want to read it and it's compainion, Out of Many Waters over and over again! The story is captivating, the charactors, highly believable

i loved this book i recomend you buy it for yourself or someone else im a 14 year old girl and i think that even someone older than me should read it and would enjoy it i also read the sequel so if your buying this as a gift get the set or the gift getter will be mad you didnt give the otherone when they finish the first please buy this book it deserves a nobel prize.

Marc Resch makes a particular point, in the book that " whacky " the Dutch are NOT!! He quotes the Dutch saying: "Doe maar gewoon. Dan doe je al gek genoeg." (Act normally. That's crazy enough.) As a Dutch-born Australian. (Actually, I seem to have kept my Dutch nationality as well.) I am very happy with this description of the Dutch from an American's point of view.
I certainly thoroughly enjoyed the book. It did not make me chuckle, like The Undutchables, but it gave me lots of food for thought. Consolidated things I knew and echoed many of my thoughts about the Dutch way of doing things, after living 50 years in Australia, and visiting the Netherlands briefly four times, since leaving there, in 1956, when pillarization was only just beginning to wane.
Whacky? No!! Unique people? (Mmmmm.) By the way, Mr Turnbull, it's "its"!

What a great insight into the wacky world of the Dutch! I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in first hand experience with The Kingdom of the Netherlands (the what??). This book covers Dutch history, it's cultural ideologies and of course it's very unique people! Change up your reading list and pick up this Xpat's very unique view of the Dutch in all their glory!

Fantastic read - really helped me to understand the Dutch and their culture and was especially relevant since I was visiting Amsterdam for the first time. Gave me a interesting insight into the history of the Dutch, the architecture and definately made me appreciate my few days there having had that background knowledge. I would certainly recommend it, not only was it informative but it was fun to read also. Made my trip more pleasurable - thanks.