The Embarrassment of Riches, Simon Schama
The Embarrassment of Riches, Simon Schama
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The Embarrassment of Riches
An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age

Author: Simon Schama

Narrator: Mike Cooper

Unabridged: 20 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 11/12/2024

Synopsis

Simon Schama explores the mysterious contradictions of the Dutch nation that invented itself from the ground up, attained an unprecedented level of affluence, and lived in constant dread of being corrupted by happiness. Drawing on a vast array of period documents and sumptuously reproduced art, Schama recreates in precise detail a nation's mental state. He tells of bloody uprisings and beached whales, of the cult of hygiene and the plague of tobacco, of thrifty housewives and profligate tulip-speculators. He tells us how the Dutch celebrated themselves and how they were slandered by their enemies.

About Simon Schama

Sir Simon Schama's award-winning books, which have been translated into twenty-three languages, include The Embarrassment of Riches, Citizens, Landscape and Memory, Rembrandt's Eyes, A History of Britain, The Power of Art, Rough Crossings, The American Future, The Face of Britain and The Story of the Jews. His art columns for the New Yorker won the National Magazine Award for criticism and his journalism has appeared regularly in the Guardian and the Financial Times, where he is Contributing Editor. He has written and presented more than fifty films for the BBC on subjects as diverse as Tolstoy and American politics, and he co-presented the landmark series on the history of world art, Civilisations. Most recently, his History of Now series aired on BBC2 in November–December 2022. Schama lives in New York and is University Professor of Art History and History at Columbia University. Foreign Bodies: Pandemics, Vaccines and the Health of Nations is his twentieth book.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Katie on November 13, 2012

This is a really fun book that explores the Golden Age of the Netherlands (predominantly the 17th century) and its culture - as someone else here put it neatly, it's a book about how the Dutch became Dutch. I wish I had more time to spend reading this work because it's a treasure trove of fascinatin......more

Goodreads review by Aliefka on October 13, 2012

This book is frequently referenced or referred to when discussing the Dutch Golden Age. I wasn't fond of it, it's dry. If you're interested in this piece of Dutch history, you should read these books instead: * Maarten Prak's book "The Dutch Republic in the Seventeeth Century" - especially due to its......more

Goodreads review by Phyllis on May 03, 2010

I'm a huge fan of Simon Schama and read this book over and over again. What does a country full of hard-working, modest people do when they find themselves on the top of the heap with too much plenty? What personal and collective issues do they have? Some institutions were centuries ahead of their t......more

Goodreads review by Elaine on June 26, 2009

A history that shows you how the Dutch became Dutch. Has pictures, since it was written by an art historian, and a wealth of very interesting themes such as Calvinism vs wealth, the use of art as moralizing tales and business vs pleasure. The Netherlanders I've spoken to said it caused a great rucku......more

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