Amsterdam : A History of the World's Most Liberal City

from Kathleen828

This is a perfectly workman-like, popular history of the city of Amsterdam. Since I know little about it, I learned a great many interesting facts about the city, about famous people who have lived there and about the social and historical conditions prevailing at various times during its history...

from EmreSevinc

Amsterdam certainly doesn't need any introduction: being one of the centers of enlightenment, intellectual freedom, scientific revolutions, and fine arts, the city deservedly attracts tourists from all over the world every year. If you want to learn what made Amsterdam as we know it, and place it...

from jcbrunner

Russell Shorto has written a splendid book about New Amsterdam, about early Dutch New York. This is his tribute to Old Amsterdam that he proclaims "the world's most liberal city", "liberal" in the neoliberal sense added with a bit of European conscience. Shorto's Amsterdammers are honorary or eve...

from joeydag

An entertaining, light history presents Amsterdam as an amazing place. I've read "The Island at the Center of the World", a history of Manhattan by the same author and found it enjoyable. He connect Amsterdam and the colony that the Dutch founded in a way that highlights his strengths and weaknes...

from stellarexplorer

Don't be fooled by the subtitle. This is a headlong, breathless history of Amsterdam. But the heart of its project is global and abstract. Shorto, an American living in the city, traces the origin of the concept of liberalism in Amsterdam. Liberalism here is roughly defined as an ideology centeri...