Reviews
The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age by Simon Schama
nwhyte's review
http://nhw.livejournal.com/1018946.html[return][return]A massive huge book this, Schama's attempt to get inside the heads of the Dutch in the last sixteenth and early to mid seventeenth centuries. He is very convincing on the impact of natural as well as political/military disasters, on the formation of Dutch identity after the formation of the state, on the role of religion and the family, and the whole thing is beautifully illustrated with paintings and woodcuts from the period. (I was particularly grabbed by Schama's enthusiasm for Jan Steen.)[return][return]However, I could have done with a bit more of the historical outline - the dramatic events of 1650 are actually better described by Russell Shorto, and it is assumed the reader knows all about William the Silent - and the only two maps provided are a contemporary small woodcut of the Netherlands and an illegible attempt to show where the brothels of Amsterdam were located. If you're only interested in the culture and not in the context, this would be a very satisfying book; but I like a little more framework to hang the pictures from.
fallchicken's review
5.0
Especially meaningful to non-Dutch folk living in the Netherlands, this book provides a good look at way the Dutch are so Dutch.
hcastle's review against another edition
5.0
When I went to uni in 1987 to study History of Art, the year that this book was published, its impact was immediate. The most influential lecturers were talking Schama: 'the sacred and the profane', 'conspicuous consumption', 'panegyric' and 'the inside and the outside'. Not only had he provided a whole new language, but the concept of what is culture had been reinvented. So what took me so long? It has taken me over 25 years to pick up this book and read it in its entirety. Decades in which Schama has moved charismatically and sometimes not so charismatically across our TV screens. Nothing can prepare you for the range and depth of his research and thinking here: everything is taken in from tulip mania to gluttony, household cleanliness and 17th-century attitudes to prostitution. He never pushes for a single definition of what is culture but one in which a duality exists, so that the interpretation of a genre scene cannot be nailed down to a simplified morality in its use of allegory but often a more knowing and playful tone.
esmithumland's review against another edition
3.0
I gave this book up at 300 pages. The level of detail is exhausting, but what I found most frustrating was that this book was subject based, rather than chronologically based, meaning it became extremely difficult to remember what was happening when. Otherwise, a rich resource for learning about Dutch culture.
josephb8694's review
This is a struggle and I wish it weren't. I became interested in the history of Netherlands when I visited Leiden where my son and daughter-in-law moved there as ex-pats. We visited several museums in Leiden and Amsterdam, read the notes by all the works of art and got hooked. I was hoping that Schama would add background and fill in the gaps.
To my dismay, Schama's book turned out to be a deluge of detail information. As others have commented here, the author presumes that you have some basic chronological history of how the Netherlands became a country because his effort takes off pretty much after the formative years. He drills down to what others might consider minutia, throws around names of characters and assumes you know in as much detail as he does who they were, what they did and their place in the flow of Dutch history.
The best and worst nature of the book was the detail commentaries about various forms of Dutch art of the 17th Century. He incorporates black and white images focuses with explanations and descriptions of details that are impossible for you to see. Furthermore, his writing is so erudite and uses so many arcane words that you have to read the book with a dictionary by your side.
I'm half way through this huge tome and hope that I don't give up on it before I reach the end.
To my dismay, Schama's book turned out to be a deluge of detail information. As others have commented here, the author presumes that you have some basic chronological history of how the Netherlands became a country because his effort takes off pretty much after the formative years. He drills down to what others might consider minutia, throws around names of characters and assumes you know in as much detail as he does who they were, what they did and their place in the flow of Dutch history.
The best and worst nature of the book was the detail commentaries about various forms of Dutch art of the 17th Century. He incorporates black and white images focuses with explanations and descriptions of details that are impossible for you to see. Furthermore, his writing is so erudite and uses so many arcane words that you have to read the book with a dictionary by your side.
I'm half way through this huge tome and hope that I don't give up on it before I reach the end.
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