The Island at the Centre of the World

'Standard kit for anyone visiting the city' Guardian <BR><BR>'Rich and eventful ... a book that easily fuses large cultural trends with intimately personal stories' New York Times<BR><BR>'The story of a great city that has shaped the soul of the world. Masterful reporting, vivid history' James Gleick<BR><BR>In this ever-surprising and effortlessly erudite portrait, Russell Shorto traces the idiosyncratic evolution of Amsterdam and examines its role as the fount of liberalism. Weaving in his own experiences of his adopted home, he delivers a delightful and intellectually engaging story of the city from the building of the first canals in the 1300s through the brutal struggle for Dutch independence and its golden age as the capital of a vast empire, to its complex present in which its cherished ideals are being questioned anew.

An endlessly entertaining portrait of the unique city of Amsterdam, by the author of the acclaimed Island at the Center of the World <BR><BR>Updated Edition with a New Preface for Amsterdam's 750th Anniversary<BR><BR>Tourists know Amsterdam as a picturesque city of low-slung brick houses lining tidy canals; student travelers know it for its legal brothels and hash bars; art lovers know it for Rembrandt's glorious portraits.<BR><BR>But the deeper history of Amsterdam, what makes it one of the most fascinating places on earth, is bound up in its unique geography-the constant battle of its citizens to keep the sea at bay and the democratic philosophy that this enduring struggle fostered. Amsterdam is the font of liberalism, in both its senses. Tolerance for free thinking and free love make it a place where, in the words of one of its mayors, "craziness is a value." But the city also fostered the deeper meaning of liberalism, one that profoundly influenced America: political and economic freedom. Amsterdam was home not only to religious dissidents and radical thinkers but to the world's first great global corporation.<BR><BR>In this effortlessly erudite account, Russell Shorto traces the idiosyncratic evolution of Amsterdam, showing how such disparate elements as herring anatomy, naked Anabaptists parading through the streets, and an intimate gathering in a sixteenth-century wine-tasting room had a profound effect on Dutch-and world-history. Weaving in his own experiences of his adopted home, Shorto provides an ever-surprising, intellectually engaging story of Amsterdam.

'An informative and thought-provoking history' The Telegraph<BR><BR><BR>'A storyrich in intrigue,diplomacyandpersonalities'New Statesman<BR><BR><BR>'Offering new perspectives and ideas' Guardian<BR><BR><BR>'Here is the whirligig of history, which Shorto captures vividly in this well-researched, well-written, sprightly book' Literary Review<BR><BR><BR>In 1664, England decided to invade the Dutch-controlled city of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. Charles II and his brother, the Duke of York, had dreams of empire, and their arch-rivals, the Dutch, were in the way. But Richard Nicolls, who led the English flotilla bent on destruction, changed his strategy once he began parleying with Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch leader on Manhattan.<BR><BR><BR>Bristling with vibrant characters, Taking Manhattan reveals the founding of New York to be an invention: the result not of a violent English takeover, but of clever negotiations that led to the fusing of the multiethnic, capitalistic society the Dutch had pioneered to the power of the rising English empire. But the birth of what might be termed the first modern city is also a story of the brutal dispossession of Native Americans and of the roots of American slavery.<BR><BR><BR>Based on newly translated sources, Taking Manhattan shows how the paradox of New York's origins - boundless opportunity coupled with subjugation and displacement - reflect America's promise and failure to this day.