3 Review(s)

In the Netherlands, as in other European countries, the late Nineteenth Century was remarkable on account of its conflicting tendencies. It was characterized by decadence as well as socialist movements, by fin de siecle sentiment as well as scientific discoveries, by religious revival as well as secularization. The authors of this volume bring these diverging tendencies together in a narrative which focuses on the rediscovery or 'reconstruction' of the Golden Age; on the Dutch colonial empire in the East Indies and the relations with South Africa; on the emancipation of the Roman Catholics after 1853; on the Jewish community in Amsterdam and other cities, and on the various Protestant denominations.