In this book the conflicting tendencies of the nineteenth century, fin de sibliogècle sentiment and socialist movements, religious revival and secularization, are brought together in a narrative that focuses on the rediscovery or reconstruction of the Golden Age, the Dutch colonial empire in the East Indies and the relations with South Africa, the emancipation of the Roman Catholics after 1853, the Jewish community in Amsterdam and other cities, and on the various Protestant denominations.
Jan Bank is Professor of Dutch History at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands.
Maarten Van Buuren is Professor of Modern French Literature at Utrecht University.