Netherlands

The Hiding Place

Corrie ten Boom was a woman admired the world over for her courage, her forgiveness, and her memorable faith. In World War II, she and her family risked their lives to help Jews escape the Nazis, and their reward was a trip to Hitler's concentration camps. But she survived and was released--as a result of a clerical error--and now shares the story of how faith triumphs over evil. For thirty-five years Corrie's dramatic life story, full of timeless virtues, has prepared readers to face their own futures with faith, relying on God's love to overcome, heal, and restore. Now releasing in a thirty-fifth anniversary edition for a new generation of readers, The Hiding Place tells the riveting story of how a middle-aged Dutch watchmaker became a heroine of the Resistance, a survivor of Hitler's death camps, and one of the most remarkable evangelists of the twentieth century.

The Hiding Place (Deluxe Christian Classics)

The Hiding Place proves that the light of God's love can penetrate even the darkest recesses of despair, places like the Nazi extermination camp at Ravensbruck. After protecting Dutch Jews in a secret room in their home, Corrie ten Boom, her sister and father were discovered, arrested, and imprisoned. Only Corrie survived, but her faith in God remained strong-so strong that, after the war, she could forgive a former camp guard in a face-to-face meeting. More than just a spellbinding adventure, The Hiding Place is a life-changing story.

The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America

When the British wrested New Amsterdam from the Dutch in 1664, the truth about its thriving, polyglot society began to disappear into myths about an island purchased for 24 dollars and a cartoonish peg-legged governor. But the story of the Dutch colony of New Netherland was merely lost, not destroyed: 12,000 pages of its records–recently declared a national treasure–are now being translated. Drawing on this remarkable archive, Russell Shorto has created a gripping narrative–a story of global sweep centered on a wilderness called Manhattan–that transforms our understanding of early America.

The Dutch colony pre-dated the “original” thirteen colonies, yet it seems strikingly familiar. Its capital was cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic, and its citizens valued free trade, individual rights, and religious freedom. Their champion was a progressive, young lawyer named Adriaen van der Donck, who emerges in these pages as a forgotten American patriot and whose political vision brought him into conflict with Peter Stuyvesant, the autocratic director of the Dutch colony. The struggle between these two strong-willed men laid the foundation for New York City and helped shape American culture. The Island at the Center of the World uncovers a lost world and offers a surprising new perspective on our own.

The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America

In a landmark work of history, Russell Shorto presents astonishing information on the founding of our nation and reveals in riveting detail the crucial role of the Dutch in making America what it is today.

In the late 1960s, an archivist in the New York State Library made an astounding discovery: 12,000 pages of centuries-old correspondence, court cases, legal contracts, and reports from a forgotten society: the Dutch colony centered on Manhattan, which predated the thirteen “original” American colonies.  For the past thirty years scholar Charles Gehring has been translating this trove, which was recently declared a national treasure.  Now, Russell Shorto has made use of this vital material to construct a sweeping narrative of Manhattan’s founding that gives a startling, fresh perspective on how America began. 
 
In an account that blends a novelist’s grasp of storytelling with cutting-edge scholarship, The Island at the Center of the World strips Manhattan of its asphalt, bringing us back to a wilderness island—a hunting ground for Indians, populated by wolves and bears—that became a prize in the global power struggle between the English and the Dutch.  Indeed, Russell Shorto shows that America’s founding was not the work of English settlers alone but a result of the clashing of these two seventeenth century powers.  In fact, it was Amsterdam—Europe’s most liberal city, with an unusual policy of tolerance and a polyglot society dedicated to free trade—that became the model for the city of New Amsterdam on Manhattan.  While the Puritans of New England were founding a society based on intolerance, on Manhattan the Dutch created a free-trade, upwardly-mobile melting pot that would help shape not only New York, but America.
 
The story moves from the halls of power in London and The Hague to bloody naval encounters on the high seas.  The characters in the saga—the men and women who played a part in Manhattan’s founding—range from the philosopher Rene Descartes to James, the Duke of York, to prostitutes and smugglers.  At the heart of the story is a bitter power struggle between two men: Peter Stuyvesant, the autocratic director of the Dutch colony, and a forgotten American hero named Adriaen van der Donck, a maverick, liberal-minded lawyer whose brilliant political gamesmanship, commitment to individual freedom, and exuberant love of his new country would have a lasting impact on the history of this nation. 

The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age

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 re-creates 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.



"History on the grand scale...An ambitious portrait of one of the most remarkable episodes in modern history."--New York Times


"Wonderfully inclusive; with wit and intense curiosity he teases out meaning from every aspect of Dutch seventeenth-century life."--Robert Hughes

Amsterdam (Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides)

Take the work out of planning any trip with DK's Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides. Branded with DK's trusted and familiar "Eyewitness" style, these compact guides make finding the best every destination has to offer easier than ever before! Perfect for both business travel and vacations, whether you're looking for the finest cuisine or the least expensive places to eat, the most luxurious hotels or the best deals on places to stay, the best family destination or the hottest nightspot, Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides provide current, useful information based on the insight of local experts to find the best of everything at each destination.

IN THE FIRE OF THE EASTERN FRONT: The Experiences Of A Dutch Waffen-SS Volunteer On The Eastern Front 1941-45

Dutch SS accounts are very rare, particularly ones such as this, covering recruitment, training, and frontline service first with 5th SS Panzer Division 'Wiking', then later with SS Regiment Besslein. He not only informs and illustrates the general politics of the time, but also explains how Dutch views of the Third Reich changed so radically, discusses the founding of the Waffen-SS, the recruitment of Dutch volunteers into it and why so many non-German Europeans volunteered to fight and risk their lives for Germany. His discussion of the intensity of the SS's training is also noteworthy. Of course, the core of the book lies in Hendrik's recollections of his service on the Eastern Front between 1941 and 1945, initially with the 5th SS Panzer Division 'Wiking'. He offers the reader an impressive and fluid account, whether it be describing the midst of battle, surviving 50 degrees below zero, frosts and frozen ground, or traversing a quagmire of roads. Of particular historical interest are his later recollections of service during 1944-45 with SS Regiment Besslein on the Eastern Front, focusing on his participation in the epic defense of Breslau - this siege remains little-known in the West, and first-hand accounts such as Hendrik's are even scarcer, making this title a worthy addition to the literature on the Second World War.

Holland (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

The first fully illustrated guide to the entire Netherlands, Eyewitness Travel Guides: Holland includes an 8-page pullout on he canals of Amsterdam, illustrations of Anne Frank's House, coverage of the major museums, and much more.

The Road to Arnhem: A Screaming Eagle in Holland (World War II Library)

In a daring plan to end the war, the Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne jumped into the heart of Nazi-held Europe -- and began a journey into hell....

In September 1944 -- sixteen weeks after the D-Day invasion -- British Field Marshal Montgomery unleashed a daring attack aimed at the heart of Nazi Germany. For the men of the Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne, including nineteen-year-old Donald Burgett, the plan meant parachuting in broad daylight into Holland, securing the road to the Rhine River, and helping the British cross into Germany. It was a mission that sent thousands of young men to their deaths.

In this electrifying memoir, Donald Burgett takes us into seventy-two days of close-quarter combat in foxholes and towns against brutal Panzer counterattacks and into the face of the feared German 88mm artillery as the Screaming Eagles push straight into the might of the German Army. Capturing the horror and confusion of war, as ally and enemy move within yards of each other, Burgett tells the story of a legendary fighting unit's bloody victory -- in an epic battle for "a bridge too far."

Matters of Exchange: Commerce, Medicine, and Science in the Dutch Golden Age