Special Edition Why the Dutch are Different: A Journey into the Hidden Heart of the Netherlands: From Amsterdam to Zwarte Piet, the acclaimed guide to travel in Holland with Free EASY Reading Download Now!

Mobi Why the Dutch are Different: A Journey into the Hidden Heart of the Netherlands: From Amsterdam to Zwarte Piet, the acclaimed guide to travel in Holland with Free MOBI EDITION Download Now!

 4,5

Related Ebook :

Read Best Edition Mary Queen of Scots with FREE MOBI EDITION Download Now!

Read Audio Book Micro-Studies 2: More Investigations into the JFK Assassination Evidence with Free EASY Reading Download Now!

Read Best Edition 30 FACTS ABOUT DONALD TRUMP with FREE PDF EDITION Download Now!

Read Audio Book The Secrets of My Life: A History with Free EASY Reading Download Now!

Read Audio Book Kilo: Inside the Deadliest Cocaine Cartels - From the Jungles to the Streets with Free EASY Reading Download Now!

Read PDF What We Carry: A Memoir with FREE MOBI EDITION Download Now!

Read Special Edition Winston Churchill: Une vie (French Edition) with FREE EASY Reading Download Now!

Read Audio Book War by Other Means: A General in the Trump White House with Free EASY Reading Download Now!

Read Audio Book The Jordan Rules: The Inside Story of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls with Free EASY Reading Download Now!

Read Best Edition Surrender: A Memoir of Nature, Nurture, and Love with Free MOBI EDITION Download Now!

Mobi Why the Dutch are Different: A Journey into the Hidden Heart of the Netherlands: From Amsterdam to Zwarte Piet, the acclaimed guide to travel in Holland with Free MOBI EDITION Download Now!

*A SCOTSMAN TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR* Stranded at Schiphol airport, Ben Coates called up a friendly Dutch girl he'd met some months earlier. He stayed for dinner. Actually, he stayed for good. In the first book to consider the hidden heart and history of the Netherlands from a modern perspective, the author explores the length and breadth of his adopted homeland and discovers why one of the world's smallest countries is also so significant and so fascinating. It is a self-made country, the Dutch national character shaped by the ongoing battle to keep the water out from the love of dairy and beer to the attitude to nature and the famous tolerance. Ben Coates investigates what makes the Dutch the Dutch, why the Netherlands is much more than Holland and why the colour orange is so important. Along the way he reveals why they are the world's tallest people and have the best carnival outside Brazil. He learns why Amsterdam's brothels are going out of business, who really killed Anne Frank, and how the Dutch manage to be richer than almost everyone else despite working far less. He also discovers a country which is changing fast, with the Dutch now questioning many of the liberal policies which made their nation famous.A personal portrait of a fascinating people, a sideways history and an entertaining travelogue, Why the Dutch are Different is the story of an Englishman who went Dutch. And loved it.

At this time of writing, The Audiobook Why the Dutch are Different: A Journey into the Hidden Heart of the Netherlands: From Amsterdam to Zwarte Piet, the acclaimed guide to travel in Holland has garnered 9 customer reviews with rating of 5 out of 5 stars. Not a bad score at all as if you round it off, it’s actually a perfect TEN already. From the looks of that rating, we can say the Audiobook is Good TO READ!

Mobi Why the Dutch are Different: A Journey into the Hidden Heart of the Netherlands: From Amsterdam to Zwarte Piet, the acclaimed guide to travel in Holland with Free MOBI EDITION!

4.5 stars. I started reading Why the Dutch are Different a while ago and have just finished it now. At first I wasn't sure whether it was memoir, history, social comment or what it was, but actually it's a mixture of all three.Ben Coates is a young Englishman who was formerly in the hectic political world of the UK. As a speech writer and lobbyist, I am sure he must have been used to viewing the world through a critical lens. This book is a reflection of his ability to stand back and look at the Netherlands without any rose-tinted glasses on, something I think I would find hard to do myself as I tend to want to focus on the positive aspects of life wherever I have lived it, and of course I've lived in the Netherlands for nearly seventeen years.First and foremost, let me say Ben Coates is an exceptionally good writer. His flexible use of English in his keen perceptions on the Dutch, their history and their customs is perfect and I often stopped reading simply to admire a sentence or phrase that seemed particularly apt or succinct. There were, however, quite large sections of the book I felt tempted to skim over. For those who don't know much European, and specifically Dutch, history, this book gives a kind of potted summary of many of the important periods in the country's past. For these people, it will probably be useful; for myself, I could have done without quite so much straying into the activities of the VOC (the East India Company), King William's exploits into England and the history of the Spanish and French domination of the Netherlands. This was all background I studied at school and university and unfortunately, it didn't really strike me as anything more than just reeling off the facts; nor did it seem to have much to do with why the Dutch are different now, other than setting the historical background for the country's great reputation as a trading nation that supported the arts in its Golden Age. On the plus side, I learnt a lot of fascinating little gems, such as why the city of Breda got its name (the breede Ee, meaning the wide river Ee) and other such titbits. I found myself frequently asking my Dutch partner 'Did you know this?' and often he didn't, so for all those interesting snippets, I was very grateful.Strangely enough, I enjoyed the section on the Dutch obsession with football. I'm not a football fan at all, but the fanatical devotion the Dutch have to soccer is a curious phenomenon in this country and I found the accounts he gave of the teams, the key players and managers and both the national adoration and criticism that the Dutch have for their footballers really entertaining. However, most of all, I enjoyed the later chapters where he writes about how the intrinsic Dutch culture of 'anything goes' has been tested in recent years by what opening borders and increased immigration have meant to the Netherlands. He writes lucidly and honestly about how this has affected the traditionally relaxed attitude Dutch have had to drug use, prostitution, homosexuality, euthanasia and immigration.All this quite intense discussion is set against the background of Ben Coates' own experience as he travelled around the Netherlands during his early years in the country and while he makes few personal judgements until quite close to the end of the book, he tells things like they are. I must say I quite often wondered if he even liked it at all; that was until I reached the final chapter, when I realised that he, like me, appreciates how much our easy, breezy self-confident and optimistic Dutch hosts have to offer. He also shows how fond we can become of these smiling, but direct people who fully espouse their 'philosophy of a flat country'. As I said at the beginning, this book is part memoir, part history lesson and part editorial. Overall, it is a really good read and I learnt a lot from it and I am now looking forward to reading his new book about the Rhine, which is apparently due out soon.

Related Ebook :

Read Special Edition Life After Death with FREE EASY Reading Download Now!

Read Best Edition When America Stopped Being Great: A History of the Present with Free PDF EDITION Download Now!

Read Mobi Abraham Lincoln Quotes: 365 Quotes By Abraham Lincoln with Free PDF EDITION Download Now!

Read PDF Craig & Fred: A Marine, A Stray Dog, and How They Rescued Each Other with FREE EASY Reading Download Now!

Read PDF The Life of Abraham Lincoln, from His Birth to His Inauguration as President with FREE PDF EDITION Download Now!

Read Special Edition Abraham Lincoln: An Account of His Journey from Relative Obscurity to National Prominence with Free EASY Reading Download Now!

Read Audio Book Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants (Rutgers University Press Classics) with Free EASY Reading Download Now!

Read Best Edition Torn Trousers: A True Story of Courage and Adventure: How A Couple Sacrificed Everything To Escape to Paradise with FREE EASY Reading Download Now!

Read Special Edition Unnatural Causes with FREE PDF EDITION Download Now!

Read Audio Book Think like greats.: George Washington Quotes with FREE PDF EDITION Download Now!