An Economic and Social History of the Netherlands, 1800–1920: Demographic, Economic and Social Transition. By Michael Wintle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Pp. xv, 399. $69.95.

Extract

To some it may come as a surprise that the Netherlands have a nineteenth-century economic and social history. This book therefore certainly fills a gap: it summarizes adequately the debates and results of Dutch historical research over the last decades. Michael Wintle's thorough knowledge of Dutch historiography enables him to make these results available to an international readership. Especially for those interested in why European countries developed along different paths, this book will be a gold mine. Its aim is more ambitious than simply to summarize, though. Wintle tries to demonstrate that the most important features of twentieth-century Dutch society had their roots in the “long” nineteenth century. After a transition period a set of characteristics of Dutch society were established, characteristics that would dominate Dutch history through most of the twentieth century.