Amsterdam

A History of the World's Most Liberal City

By: Russell Shorto

Narrated by: Russell Shorto

An endlessly entertaining portrait of the city of Amsterdam and the ideas that make it unique, by the author of the acclaimed Island at the Center of the World

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.

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.

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 from the building of its first canals in the 1300s, through its brutal struggle for independence, its golden age as a vast empire, to its complex present in which its cherished ideals of liberalism are under siege.

Engaging, accessible, intelligent

Both engaging and accessible, the author's first person style belies the complexity of this extensive analysis of the role of Amsterdam in the history of the Western world.

Very, very interesting

I’m becoming interested in just about any Russell Shorto writes or narrates. Thank you! Always interesting and well researched and delivered.

Amsterdam

The richness of the story is told here in the professor’s full historical style. An amazing history.

Scope

If your interested in Amsterdam history, this is a narrative with great scope, with or without the liberal argument.
I've listened to it twice now. It leaves me hungry for more detail on the Dutch state system.

Great book on Amsterdam

I strongly recommend this book to gain an understanding of the city of Amsterdam and in return the making of the U.S.