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A review by riotsquirrrl
Amsterdam: A History of the World's Most Liberal City by Russell Shorto
3.0
This is a very easy to read history of Amsterdam provided that you can ignore the author's relentless need to prove his thesis that Amsterdam grew as a uniquely liberal city and that it's always been a good thing.
But maybe it's because I also went to the Rijksmuseum which has a number of wall displays about the Netherlands and slavery that I can't help but notice what Shorto isn't talking about: the legacy of the slave trade and how that figures in with the idea of a liberal Amsterdam. All I can assume is that it doesn't, given that Shorto also glosses over Dutch South Africa and the legacy of apartheid. All of which lead me to believe that whatever unique freedom Amsterdam developed, they systemically prevented that kind of freedom in the places they colonized. Which of course makes me wonder if, given how often this book tries to drive the point home, and given how often I heard in Amsterdam about how liberal and free they were, makes me instead wonder what they're looking to cover up or gloss over.
Shorto does include a brief section about how Amsterdam's multiculturalism/siloing in the early 20th century made it much easier to deport Jewish people after the Nazi occupation, but yeah I think that topic deserved more than a few paragraphs about how dissenting viewpoints and tolerated minorities were isolated from the rest of Amsterdam society.
So all in all there were some good points, especially in the first half talking about the rise of Amsterdam, the 80 years war, and the rise of the VOC, but I could have gone without the relentless boostering of the idea of Amsterdam liberalism that made an honest appraisal of Amsterdam values impossible to assess.
But maybe it's because I also went to the Rijksmuseum which has a number of wall displays about the Netherlands and slavery that I can't help but notice what Shorto isn't talking about: the legacy of the slave trade and how that figures in with the idea of a liberal Amsterdam. All I can assume is that it doesn't, given that Shorto also glosses over Dutch South Africa and the legacy of apartheid. All of which lead me to believe that whatever unique freedom Amsterdam developed, they systemically prevented that kind of freedom in the places they colonized. Which of course makes me wonder if, given how often this book tries to drive the point home, and given how often I heard in Amsterdam about how liberal and free they were, makes me instead wonder what they're looking to cover up or gloss over.
Shorto does include a brief section about how Amsterdam's multiculturalism/siloing in the early 20th century made it much easier to deport Jewish people after the Nazi occupation, but yeah I think that topic deserved more than a few paragraphs about how dissenting viewpoints and tolerated minorities were isolated from the rest of Amsterdam society.
So all in all there were some good points, especially in the first half talking about the rise of Amsterdam, the 80 years war, and the rise of the VOC, but I could have gone without the relentless boostering of the idea of Amsterdam liberalism that made an honest appraisal of Amsterdam values impossible to assess.