An Economic and Social History of the Netherlands, 1800-1920: Demographic, Economic and Social Transition

An Economic and Social History of the Netherlands 1800-1920 provides a comprehensive account of Dutch history from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century, examining population and health, the economy, and socio-political history. The Dutch experience in this period is fascinating and instructive: the country saw extremely rapid population growth, awesome death rates, staggering fertility, some of the fastest economic growth in the world, a uniquely large and efficient service sector, a vast and profitable overseas empire, characteristic ‘pillarization’, and relative tolerance. Michael Wintle also examines the lives of ordinary people: what they ate, how much they earned, what they thought about public affairs, and how they wooed and wed. This is the only single-authored book currently available in English on this crucial period of Dutch history, and it will be of central importance to Dutch specialists, as well as European historians more generally.