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Title: Amsterdam by Geert Mak, Philipp Blom ISBN: 0-674-00331-4 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $31.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (4 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Entertaining, Rich, Informative
Comment: _Een kleine geschiedenis van Amsterdam_ (the Dutch Title of this book) has been on my friends' must-read lists since it was released in Dutch in 1995. I've finally gotten around now to reading it, and now I'm only sorry that I hadn't read it earlier.
Mak is very good at choosing periods from the life of the city to highlight and also choosing the anecdotes that make that period more real. Whether his focus is on the portrait of Gerrit Janszoon Peggedochter, or the reaction of modern Amsterdammers to the marriage of (then Princess, now Queen) Beatrix, the stories are always fascinating. I liked how he made an effort to tie Amsterdam of the past to its current incarnation and after living there for five years I found myself nodding and smiling at many of Mak's observations.
Mercifully, he doesn't overly focus on tulipmania-- that's been covered more than well enough elsewhere.
I haven't read the Dutch version, only the English, and I didn't stumble over the translation. I do know that people who've read both complain about the English, but unless you're planning a comparative study I think Blom's translation should suffice.
Rating: 5
Summary: Very readable
Comment: This was a very readable account of Amsterdams history. Of course it would take a five volume history to do full justice to the city but this was admirable in its ability to cover high points while not being a dull textbook account.The prose was very good and not dry at all.
Rating: 5
Summary: Quick, entertaining history
Comment: I read this book in preparation for a visit to Amsterdam, and my visit was far more enjoyable and interesting as a result. You owe it to the Amsterdammers to read this book before spending any amount of time in their city--you'll have a much deeper understanding to inform your stay. Imagine reading stories about Chicago by Studs Terkel before visiting that city.
It's really too bad, though, that such a good book has suffered such incompetent editing. Harvard University Press should be ashamed of itself--misspellings, strange punctuation, inconsistent formatting--did anyone actually look at the copy before it went to press?
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Title: Amsterdam: A Traveler's Literary Companion by Manfred Wolf ISBN: 188351309X Publisher: Whereabouts Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Outsider in Amsterdam by Janwillem Van De Wetering, Janwillem Van De Wetering ISBN: 1569470170 Publisher: Soho Press, Inc. Pub. Date: October, 1994 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Corpse on the Dike by Janwillem Van De Wetering ISBN: 1569470499 Publisher: Soho Press, Inc. Pub. Date: November, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Rituals (Harvest Book) by Cees Nooteboom, Adrienne Dixon ISBN: 0156003945 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: April, 1996 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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Title: Jorwerd: The Death of the Village in Late Twentieth-Century Europe by Geert Mak ISBN: 1860468039 Publisher: Harvill Pr Pub. Date: March, 2001 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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