Going Dutch

In Going Dutch, renowned writer Lisa Jardine tells the remarkable history of the relationship between England and Holland, two of Europe’s most important colonial powers at the dawn of the modern age. Jardine, the author of The Awful End of Prince William the Silent, demonstrates that England’s rise did not come at the expense of the Dutch as is commonly thought, but was actually a “handing on” of the baton of cultural and intellectual supremacy to a nation expanding in international power and influence.

But how did these two rival nations—one a monarchy, the other a republic—become so deeply intertwined?

• The Glorious Revolution Reframed: A gripping reassessment of 1688, not as a peaceful revolution, but as a full-scale, brilliantly stage-managed Dutch invasion of England.
• Cultural Cross-Fertilization: An exploration of how Dutch art, science, and even garden design were not just copied but deeply integrated into English life, creating a shared cultural landscape.
• Royal and Dynastic Marriages: The story of how strategic alliances between the House of Stuart and the House of Orange tied the two nations’ political destinies together for generations.
• A Revisionist History: A powerful argument that challenges the traditional narrative of rivalry, revealing instead a complex story of mutual influence, cooperation, and a surprising "handing on" of glory.