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

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The other reviews I have read of this book are excellent, but I have decided to add my voice to show how the book has made me see history in a different light.

From the outset, Schama shows us a people whose success is based on a shared moral vision that utterly permeates their art and literature. In this country, we tend to be fixated on the art of England, France, and Italy, with a few side-trips to Germany, Russia, and the Orient. Before Schama, I thought of the Netherlands as an "auxiliary" country with no particular vision of its own.

I am delighted to have been proven wrong. THE EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES carries its theme like a mighty wave through hundreds of pages that read like a short essay. Here is this little country retrieved largely from the sea and mud, surrounded by powerful enemies who have repeatedly invaded and savaged it, and yet prevailing in its gentle and remarkably tolerant essence over the centuries. One does not survive this level of pain as a people unless one learns the lessons of cooperation, of tolerance, and of humor.

Several weeks ago, I found myself in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. My attention was riveted by a still life of cut-up fruit and seafood that I had seen before, but never stopped to examine. This time I did and looked more closely. Swarming or buzzing over the food were a small army of ants and other insects. The painters of the Golden Age were trying to teach us a lesson, gently, of the transitoriness of all that is good and beautiful. Life is good now, but the waters and the nations are building up for another assault.

Massive and rambling, this is a history book without very finely drawn parameters. Schama, in my reading, wanted to cover the whole of a unique humanist culture - tolerant, intelligent, united by outside threats and not so much by Calvinism, and loosely structured in the era of absolutism. Focusing largely on paintings, prints, and writings, Schama offers a dazzling tour - the only trouble is, he seems to want to cover everything, and in the process the thread of narrative is lost from the very beginning in all the luscious details. While it is far better than Landscape and Memory in terms of unity of theme, there are long passages where it is near-impossilbe to tell where schama wants to go or what he really has to say.

At its best, the book offers lovely descriptions of such varied subjects as midwives, a brief fascination with beached whales, sex, diet, and charity, to name just a few. Many of the details along the way that need explanation are very briefly referred to, such as the 80-year War of independence from Spain, the difficulties with France as Louis XIV sought to expand his national territory, and the fabulous technological achievement of reclaiming much of the land from sea silt. The reader is treated to a grand political experiment along with the art. WHen I next go there, my experience will be immeasurably enriched.

However, at its worst, Schama appeared to me to be showing off his erudition, which is truly incredible and hence describing way way too much while not covering more of the basics. While this certainly points to the weaknesses of my own education in history, I doubt that many readers would know the mechanisms of Dutch economic superiority or why the Tulip mania could occur there and not in Antwerp or Venice. Instead, for example, Schama devotes over 30 pages to describing how much they ate, drank, and smoked referring innumerable obscure artists and interpreting all of the details of composition and subject matter in individual works. Yes, the prose is luminous, but why so awfully much??! It is really more of a multi-layered essay that will have to be re-read, if the reader has time and the will to invest in it.

Moreover, the end of the book is rushed and becomes less and less coherent at the moment when the reader is hoping that it will somehow get all tied together with an overview. The references in the last 100 pages become more obscure and recondite, requiring ever greater knowledge on the part of the reader as explanations disappear. And the epilogue did absolutely nothing for me and was for the most part incomprehensible.

Recommended with these caveats in mind. It is not for beginners! But the pleasures are many and it will change your view of Holland forever, as a great book should.

The Embarrassment of Riches explores the emergence of a distinctive Dutch cultural and commercial identity in the Netherlands over three generations during the seventeenth century in a comprehensive but impressively entertaining manner.

The author Simon Schama (1945 - ) is a well-known Oxbridge historian of English Jewish heritage, who was teaching at Harvard University when he wrote this work, but who is now based at Columbia University. His interests have included European and other social, cultural and art history, which is evident in the book's content and approach.

The book explains how rebellion against the Spanish empire's cultural and religious oppression was the primary cause of the developing independent Dutch collective personality and national patriotism. As a result a wealthy republic, which temporarily led the European world in trade, art and science, was successfully created out of a loose assortment of agricultural, fishing and shipping communities of diverse languages and religious denominations. However, the consequence of this prosperity was an embarrassing ethical dilemma that dominated and shaped Dutch culture, beliefs and practices. Thus, the book emphasises the paradoxical moral tension between worldly riches and homely piety.

In telling this story, Schama demonstrates an impressive capacity to inject life, vitality and insight into history. The Embarrassment of Riches displays signs of Schama's later increasing tendency to experiment imaginatively with historical analysis, to draw from other academic subjects, and to acknowledge awareness of the potential autobiographical and subjective bias in historical works. Yet in general, Schama combines a moderately conventional understanding of the study of history, such as the desirability of factual objectivity about past events, with an entertaining, innovative and creative approach to presentation.

Thus, the work is likely to be enjoyable and informative for both academic historians as well as the general reading public with an interest in the subject area, and is probably Schama's most engaging and accessible work (compared with, for example, his immense study Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution, New York, 1989). Its argument is clearly defined and the sections of the book are well connected, with relevant references to documentary, pictorial and other resources, which while easily available do not distract from the flow of the text.

Schama's approach has been influenced by a number of historians or other social and cultural theorists, including in a manner characteristic of the growing subdiscipline of cultural history. In this regard, Schama has taken into account the wider cultural milieu including the social, political, economic, religious, moral, and other dimensions that can increase a reader's ability to understand the development of Dutch culture and wealth during the seventeenth century's `golden era'. The cultural perspective adopted is therefore much more far ranging than that confined to elite high `Culture', but rather promotes an inclusive democratization of the concepts of culture and history that suits the subject matter. A broad range of ordinary stories, people and events are included in order to promote a fuller comprehension of human life, experience and context.

However, such a broad approach increases the risk that the book's cultural themes and other issues are handled in a complex and awkward manner, or that factual errors, unbalanced emphases and lack of coherence mar the text. Nevertheless, with the exception of a possible overemphasis upon the province of Holland and the city of Amsterdam relative to other regions of the Netherlands, Schama has largely dealt with the material and issues deftly and competently.

Hence, the book has far more strengths than weaknesses in terms of sources, approach, content and presentation. The result is a profoundly enriching and eclectic portrait of the Dutch people and their emerging cultural identity, which brings the past to life.

I've lived in the Netherlands for four years, and found this book to be both delightful and illuminating. Particularly for expats living here in the Netherlands, it sets a good base for understanding Dutch life-- but I think it's the sort of book that anyone who loves history would enjoy.

Embarassment of Riches focuses on almost every element of Dutch life-- political sphere, standard of living, role of women, treatment of children, moral taboos, legal standards, attitudes towards money and so much more. The writing is direct, stylish, and witty and the illustrations are well-chosen and clearly add to the point of the author.

By writing this book the author accomplished a true masterpiece (in the 17th century meaning) by describing the origins of wealth of one of the most affluent nations in the world: The Netherlands. His detailed account of the dynamics of The Netherland's social fabric in that time explains exactly why The Netherlands is the world's most successful nation in terms of high net worth per capita, standard of living and social culture. On social culture in particular the author's excellent explanation of the word "gezellig" explains that he grasped Dutch society in all its peculiar detail. One unsatisfactory result from reading this masterpiece is the urge to learn more about the more recent history of this magnificient country in the Rhine estuary as Schaamhaar's compelling description of the Dutch social history would indeed lerit reconciliation of the Dutch social roots with its current leading role in the world by showing a high tolerance to foreigners, polit! ical refugees, its softdrugs policy, its leading role in the sexual revolution banning all taboos, the successes of the Dutch national soccer team in the world championships in France and providing a sound answer to the question why travellers in any part of the world will always end up running into the ephimeral Dutch visitor and why the Dutch consider Belgians generally stupid etc.

During the three generations in which Holland was a global superpower---and one of the world's first economic superpowers at that---the Dutch people lived amid luxury and plentitude never before seen in northern Europe. Simon Schama's comprehensive study of this nation and period explores and details anything that could possibly be asked about the seventeenth-century Netherlands. This is a tough book to break into, to continue forward into once the task of reading it has begun, and its density will put many people off. It lacks the approachability of say a David McCullough or Stephen Ambrose book, but if someone wants serious information about its subject matter, there is no other more complete source that I know of than The Embarrassment of Riches. To read this book is to come away with an intimate knowledge of the Dutch Golden Age, and that's a high compliment.

I read a good portion of the book, but must admit that I had a lot of difficulty getting into it. As an undergraduate history major 10+ years ago, I had done some coursework on Dutch history (specifically the rise of the Dutch Republic), but really did not have a strong background for this book. Schama assumes that his readers have a reservoir of prior knowledge about the subject matter of his books. I will attempt this book again after I brush up on my understanding of the Dutch Republic.

Just like everything this extraordinary writer has published, "An Embarrassment of Riches" is an astonishingly brilliant, insightful and thought-provoking cultural history. I wait with hunger for his books; fortunately they tend to be five-course dinners with dessert, brandy and cigars afterwards. "An Embarrassment" is just such a literary and historical feast. I cannot recommend Mr. Schama's books enough.

From a rich foundation of material and an exquisite writing style, Schama guides us through the formative years of the Dutch Republic. The politics of that creation, however, he leaves to others. Instead, he addresses the underlying conditions of Dutch society of the period. At the outset, he decrees he will avoid Culture in favour of culture. This welcome departure makes this book a treasure of information. However, it isn't a volume for the novice. Much background history in Enlightenment Europe in general and the Dutch role in particular, is required before tackling this book.

That a beached whale can become a cultural artefact seems aberrant at first glance. The Dutch, as Calvinists, could find a moral message in a wide disparity of events. Whale beachings proved no exception. Pamphlets, articles, even books could make use of cetacean corpses to invoke metaphors of nationalism, extravagance, profit, indulgence and divine messages. Schama shows how easily the besieged Protestant nation at the edge of Catholic Europe found means to justify and define their existence. This form of thinking and expression gave the Dutch strength to sustain a novel experiment in society and nationhood. It also refutes the suggestion that the Dutch were governed by a dogmatist Calvinism. Flexibility and tolerance, no matter how often challenged, remained the foundation of Dutch culture. Against all odds, the Republic survived and flourished.

The flourishing becomes the pivotal point in Schama's account. The influx of riches from global trade challenged aspects of Calvinist values. Extravagance was condemned, but not impaired. The lure of commerce was strong and the accumulation of wealth too rapid to be hampered. Calvinist ministers might rail at the influx of gold, but their wrath was constrained by a society manifestly stable. Excesses remained rare as the burghers pursued their wealth soberly. Ostentation, Schama notes, didn't mean extravagance.

As Schama clearly describes, flourishing trade opened minds as well as purses. Opinions flourished with bank accounts and the Dutch Enlightenment attracted exiles from more dogmatic societies. He pulls together many threads in weaving his tapestry of Dutch culture, enhanced by numerous illustrations conveying the wealth of allegorical images used to influence social and national mores. The varieties of thinking meant that the Dutch Republic came into existence without an underlying ideology or dogma. Even the Republic's borders remained too fluid to establish a certain national identity from them.

If there are faults in Schama's sweeping account, they are few, but significant. An introductory chapter on the chronology of events would ease the novice's entry to this weighty narrative. His focus, while a needed supplement to general histories, is a bit tight. He spends many pages recounting the history of a single midwife as exemplary. On the other hand, the role of immigrants is given short shrift. Jewish contacts in Iberia and the New World were an important facet of economic growth. Trade with the Far East is granted only marginally more attention. As the roots of "the embarrassment of riches" one would expect more attention be given them. He ignores many major thinkers, perhaps slotting them into his disdained Culture. Yet many major figures of the era go begging for ink space in his book - Spinoza, Descartes and others were not writing for themselves. Even posthumously, their opinions affected the thinking of literate Dutch - and in a burgher society, there were many of those. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Simon Schama's 1987 exploration of early modern Dutch culture, The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age, is a thumping good read. The work is a piece of sprawling brilliance combining analysis of art, architecture, religion, economics, and literature of both the high and low variety which seeks to explore the peculiarities of a culture of abundance amidst the extreme scarcity of early modern Europe-a synthesis of social and political history with few equals. Although the book redounds with wit and powerful insights about the nature of this truly exceptional society, its very scope and ambition-to integrate a massive synthesis of material into a comprehensive history book using both text and artwork-stretches the medium of history book writing nearly to the breaking point. The Embarrassment of Riches suffers from problems that seem to be inherent to the mixing of mediums.

Like most Americans, my introduction to Simon Schama came through his monumental documentary, A History of Britain. The documentary is brimming with wit and creativity. Like all documentary film making, text can be read which explains whatever visual images splash across the screen simultaneously. Hyper-text, whereby a reader can study a text while flipping forward to images explained, and then very cleanly flip right back, is a poor substitute for the documentary format. The printed page, integrated with black and white reproductions, is frankly abominable compared to hypertext. In 1987, when Schama published this work, hypertext did not exist, and high quality documentary making was no less expensive then than now. By using the format of a history textbook, Schama uses wit, creativity and an awe inspiring level of erudition to create what amounts to a gallery exhibition where you only allowed to look at the pictures once.

That appraisal may be a bit harsh, but it reflects my basic disappointment with what is otherwise a very interesting text. At the points in the text where Schama explores the vagaries of Dutch life through painting and architecture, the work suffers. But where Schama is able to utilize popular and travel literature as well as the vast quantitative studies of the Netherlander property and funerals, his study absolute shines with clarity. Schama's Dutch are as conflicted as any group of moderns dealing with a society in transition from poverty to wealth. We see a society that is fundamentally ill at ease with the incredibly good fortune that it has experienced and is imperfectly capable morally, philosophically, and legally of coming to terms with the tremendous prosperity that commerce was continually bringing, as well as the expansion of such vices as prostitution within Amsterdam. As a work about a society in transition it is a fundamentally insightful piece.

A work of more than 600 pages can not be easily summed up. It is fair to call this book a creative attempt not only to understand an early modern group of men and women who are not only surprisingly similar to us, but it was an attempt to mix mediums in a way that is, still today, ahead of its