The Book Prize Index

Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland's Glory

Lisa Jardine

In this book, Lisa Jardine assembles new research in political and social history, together with the histories of art, music, gardening and science, to show how Dutch tolerance, resourcefulness and commercial acumen had effectively conquered Britain long before William of Orange and his English wife arrived to rule in London. This is the remarkable story of the relationship between two of Europe's most important colonial powers at the dawn of the modern age. Jardine demonstrates how individuals such as Christopher Wren, Isaac Newton and successive generations of the remarkable Huygens family, usually represented as isolated geniuses working in the enclosed environment of the country of their birth, in fact developed their ideas within a context of easy Anglo-Dutch relations that laid the vital groundwork for the European Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution.--From publisher description.

HistoryWorld History · medium confidenceWorld History81 signalsLlm Classifier: World History -> World HistoryOpen Library: Dutch Art -> Arts & CriticismOpen Library: Art thefts -> Arts & CriticismTravel, Exploration & PlaceLiterature & WritersAfrica & the African Diaspora

Award History

1 wins · 1 total

AwardYearResultCategory / Notes
Cundill History PrizeMajor2009WinnerSecondary source
View all award history (1)
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies

This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.

  1. 01 Central figures

    • Christopher Wren78%
    • Isaac Newton78%

  2. 02 Central places

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

    These suggestions did not meet the normal display threshold and are more likely to be wrong.

    • Holland62%
    • England62%
    • London44%

  3. 03 Suggested argument

    No argument inferred with sufficient confidence.

    This suggestion did not meet the normal display threshold and is more likely to be wrong.

    Dutch tolerance, resourcefulness, and commercial acumen enabled effective conquest of Britain long before William of Orange and his English wife ruled London, laying groundwork for the European Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution.

    Model confidence 48%

  4. 04 Reading orientation

    63 / 100 academic

    Academic

    An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.

Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 56%.