The Dutch Republic - Its Rise, Greatness and Fall 1477-1806
The Dutch Golden Age, the age of Spinoza, Grotius, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and a host of other renowned artists and writers, was one of the most spectacularly creative episodes in the history of the world. It also had an immense impact on global commerce, finance, shipping, and technology. In this definitive account of the rise of the United Provinces, Jonathan Israel traces the ideas, politics, religion, and social developments of the Golden Age, and examines the reasons for its subsequent decline in the eighteenth century.