The Dutch Republic in the Eighteenth-Century

Following its brilliant Golden Age, the Netherlands' history in the eighteenth century has seemed to many historians to be one of decline, and a time when Dutch politics were dominated by foreign influences. Yet this was a period when the Netherlands served as a major publishing center for enlightened ideas and when the Dutch Revolution of 1787 anticipated that of the French. Bringing together sixteen essays by a distinguished group of Dutch and American historians, the present volume restores a neglected chapter in the history of the Netherlands and makes a major contribution to our understanding of the Enlightenment as a European—not merely a French or an English—phenomenon.

Individual chapters offer nuanced answers to such questions as: Who were the Patriotten who led the Dutch Revolution? What social and cultural factors made them seek to overturn the institutions of the ancien régime? Did their writings and actions mark a fundamental break with the cultural values of their nation and time? Finally, what can the Dutch story tell us about the complex relationships between the culture of the Enlightenment and the democratic revolutions that ushered in the political and jocial institutions of the modern nation-state?

Contributors: W. van den Berg; Christine van Boheemen-Saaf; Wayne Ph. te Brake; Willem Th. M. Frijhoff; Frans Grijzenhout; Margaret C. Jacob; Jan A. F. de Jongste; E. H. Kossmann; Wijnand W. Mijnhardt; Eco O. G. Haitsma Mulier; ]. G. A. Pocock; Jeremy D. Popkin; Nicolaas C. F. van Sas; H. A. M. Snelders; Wyger R. E. Velema; I. J. H. Worst.

Margaret C. Jacob is Distinguished Professor of Research in the Department of History at UCLA. Among her many books as author or coeditor are The Secular Enlightenment, The First Knowledge Economy, and In Praise of Ordinary People: Early Modern Britain and the Dutch Republic.

This outstanding volume inquires into the meaning of the Dutch national decline of the eighteenth century and the lessons that the peculiar history of the Netherlands might offer in the study of modern European history.

Jack R. Censer, George Mason University:

Non-specialists who want to understand the Dutch situation will have to consult this excellent collection. Informed by much recent research on the eighteenth century, these articles will allow inclusion of the Dutch Republic in our understanding of the international scene.