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In this book, Lisa Jardine assembles new research in political and social history, together with the histories of art, music, gardening and science, to show how Dutch tolerance, resourcefulness and commercial acumen had effectively conquered Britain long before William of Orange and his English wife arrived to rule in London. This is the remarkable story of the relationship between two of Europe's most important colonial powers at the dawn of the modern age. Jardine demonstrates how individuals such as Christopher Wren, Isaac Newton and successive generations of the remarkable Huygens family, usually represented as isolated geniuses working in the enclosed environment of the country of their birth, in fact developed their ideas within a context of easy Anglo-Dutch relations that laid the vital groundwork for the European Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution.--From publisher description.… (more)
User reviews
What does the title express? Going Dutch usually means that each participant pays for his own consumption. In this historical case, the English sought and received Dutch Protestant assistance to undertake the Glorious Revolution. The Anglo-Dutch partnership broke down all too soon. The Grand Alliance was hobbled by English and Dutch squabbling. Queen Anne continued the Scottish line on the English throne before it ended up in German hands. Jardine's focus on Huygens prevents her from presenting a panorama of Dutch influence.
What should have been noted is that the Netherlands were the traditional refuge for English monarchs (see for example Edward IV during the War of the Roses). In contrast to a Scottish exile, the Netherlands offered easy access to the continental centers of power while still being beyond their reach. Jardine with her late 17th century focus doesn't mention the importance of Dutch printers in the reformation either. What she does discuss is the very important cultural transfer in art. The Dutch were so influential in selling European art that renowned English painters only emerge in the late 18th century.
The main Dutch influence on England lies just in the spheres Jardine devotes the least space to: the commercial world and the navy. Naval and commercial rivalry pushed England to greatness. Dutch innovations combined with English scale ushered in the modern era.
Overall, at two pounds, it was a worthy Dutch treat.
There is quite a bit of interesting material there, but very little of it was new to me: on the whole, I think I learnt more about the Huygens family and their role in Anglo-Dutch relations from an hour in the Huygens museum in Voorburg than from Jardine's book.
One I'm glad I was able to borrow rather than buy.
However, although Britain was either openly at war with, or at least in a state of muted belligerence towards, Holland throughout much of the 1670s and 1680s, there was a flourishing exchange of cultural endeavour, and even the open correspondence about scientific and technological advances (even though many of them were of military value). This was, after all, a golden age for science, which saw the launch of the Royal Society under the patronage of Charles II.
This is territory that Professor Jardine has already richly harvested in her biographies of Wren and Hooke, and "Ingenious Pursuits", her history of the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment. She writes with a great clarity that lets her immense enthusiasm shine through. Of course, it is not at all surprising that she should show such zest for the pursuit of knowledge - after all, her father was Professor Jacob Bronowski. However, her particular gift is the ability to convey that enthusiasm to her readers, even those without a strong scientific grounding themselves.