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The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America
When the British wrested New Amsterdam from the Dutch in 1664, the truth about its thriving, polyglot society began to disappear into myths about an island purchased for 24 dollars and a cartoonish peg-legged governor. But the story of the Dutch colony of New Netherland was merely lost, not destroyed: 12,000 pages of its records–recently declared a national treasure–are now being translated. Drawing on this remarkable archive, Russell Shorto has created a gripping narrative–a story of global sweep centered on a wilderness called Manhattan–that transforms our understanding of early America.
The Dutch colony pre-dated the “original” thirteen colonies, yet it seems strikingly familiar. Its capital was cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic, and its citizens valued free trade, individual rights, and religious freedom. Their champion was a progressive, young lawyer named Adriaen van der Donck, who emerges in these pages as a forgotten American patriot and whose political vision brought him into conflict with Peter Stuyvesant, the autocratic director of the Dutch colony. The struggle between these two strong-willed men laid the foundation for New York City and helped shape American culture. The Island at the Center of the World uncovers a lost world and offers a surprising new perspective on our own.
The Dutch colony pre-dated the “original” thirteen colonies, yet it seems strikingly familiar. Its capital was cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic, and its citizens valued free trade, individual rights, and religious freedom. Their champion was a progressive, young lawyer named Adriaen van der Donck, who emerges in these pages as a forgotten American patriot and whose political vision brought him into conflict with Peter Stuyvesant, the autocratic director of the Dutch colony. The struggle between these two strong-willed men laid the foundation for New York City and helped shape American culture. The Island at the Center of the World uncovers a lost world and offers a surprising new perspective on our own.
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
1,379 people are currently reading
19k people want to read
About the author
Russell Shorto
43 books456 followersRussell Shorto is the author, most recently, of Revolution Song, a new narrative of the American Revolution, which the New York Times called a "remarkable" achievement and the Chicago Tribune described as "an engaging piece of historical detective work and narrative craft." He is also the author of The Island at the Center of the World, a national bestseller about the Dutch founding of New York. Shorto is senior scholar at the New Netherland Institute and was formerly the director of the John Adams Institute in Amsterdam.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,177 reviews
June 6, 2011
The Island at the Center of the World is a wonderful example of a genre I call "The Superficial History of..." This is not to say that the book is not well-researched, or has a weak, generalized argument; Shorto obviously read exhaustively on the topic and his argument is a salient one. The Island at the Center of the World is the perfect book to introduce readers to the Dutch impact on New York and the legacy of Dutch influence in America.
The book does have its flaws. While generally organized chronologically, at times I felt that Shorto was speaking about the colony on a macro level while referring to a micro-level event. So much of the book's emphasis is on the end-result--Van der Donck v. Stuyvesant, Stuyvesant v. the British--that his discussion of the early colony cannot help but be tinged by what has yet to come. This results in a blurring of the narrative. Shorto's desire to break down the hegemony of the British in colonial American history distorts the clean chronology he tries to follow.
Stylistically, I had two complaints. First, while I enjoy Shorto's writing, his voice was too loud in the text. In some ways it was enjoyable to feel like he was standing next to me and telling me this amazing story, but ultimately I think it detracted from his authority and made him sound more like a fanboy than an expert. Secondly, the book was poorly edited. Too many times I found myself rereading the same anecdote and wondering why an editor hadn't caught the repetition.
I recommend this book to two kinds of readers: 1) those who like fun, easy-to-read history books that portray vivid characters and don't get bogged down in the niche or the theoretical, and who don't really care that it's just skimming the surface of a larger historical debate, and 2) those history lovers who like a quick read to introduce them to a topic and give them a broad context for further readings. Shorto provides a bibliography that would not be out of place at the back of a historical monograph, and so those interested in looking at primary documents and/or more specific secondary works can easily find sources.
The book does have its flaws. While generally organized chronologically, at times I felt that Shorto was speaking about the colony on a macro level while referring to a micro-level event. So much of the book's emphasis is on the end-result--Van der Donck v. Stuyvesant, Stuyvesant v. the British--that his discussion of the early colony cannot help but be tinged by what has yet to come. This results in a blurring of the narrative. Shorto's desire to break down the hegemony of the British in colonial American history distorts the clean chronology he tries to follow.
Stylistically, I had two complaints. First, while I enjoy Shorto's writing, his voice was too loud in the text. In some ways it was enjoyable to feel like he was standing next to me and telling me this amazing story, but ultimately I think it detracted from his authority and made him sound more like a fanboy than an expert. Secondly, the book was poorly edited. Too many times I found myself rereading the same anecdote and wondering why an editor hadn't caught the repetition.
I recommend this book to two kinds of readers: 1) those who like fun, easy-to-read history books that portray vivid characters and don't get bogged down in the niche or the theoretical, and who don't really care that it's just skimming the surface of a larger historical debate, and 2) those history lovers who like a quick read to introduce them to a topic and give them a broad context for further readings. Shorto provides a bibliography that would not be out of place at the back of a historical monograph, and so those interested in looking at primary documents and/or more specific secondary works can easily find sources.
May 22, 2023
Love it or hate it, everybody knows about New York, the metropolis known as Gotham, The Big Apple, and more pejorative nicknames. Several decades past, New York was shorthand for all that was wrong with Urban America, rude, dirty and crime ridden. In the last 25 years crime reductions credited to Rudy Giuliani and sympathy for 9/11 victims have resulted in conservative media cutting the city (but not Bill DiBlasio) some slack, especially since they have the apparently corpse-littered streets of Chicago to remind their viewers of the ills of the big city.
In this very readable book, Russell Shorto describes New York as the world in microcosm. It is a place in which ethnicity, religion, or past transgressions of the individual matter little, as long as the commercial vitality of the metropolis is enhanced by their presence. He attributes this tolerance of otherness to the Dutch founders of New Amsterdam who were practical people who had come to North America to improve their financial prospects and were not usually disappointed by the results. He contrasts them with the English founders of New England, many of whom were intent on creating wilderness theocracies and discouraging non-believers from impeding their prospects for the afterlife.
As examples of this tolerance, the author tells the story of a young woman who arrived in New Amsterdam after being encouraged by the municipal authorities of the original Amsterdam to change residence. Her activities upon arrival in Manhattan lead Mr. Shorto to bestow upon her the title of "America's first prostitute". She eventually paired with a man of Moroccan ancestry whose lengthy professional resume was usually summarized as piracy. Their complementary skill sets made them prosperous in 17th century Manhattan and their fecundity has resulted in their appearance in the genealogies of many 21st century Americans, including that of my own brother-in-law.
Whether or not you buy into Mr. Shorto's assertion that the tolerant attitudes of Dutch Manhattan have been instrumental in forging such attitudes in America as a whole, you will probably find the characters described in this book to be interesting, and you may be surprised by the little things introduced by the Dutch that are still very much with us today.
In this very readable book, Russell Shorto describes New York as the world in microcosm. It is a place in which ethnicity, religion, or past transgressions of the individual matter little, as long as the commercial vitality of the metropolis is enhanced by their presence. He attributes this tolerance of otherness to the Dutch founders of New Amsterdam who were practical people who had come to North America to improve their financial prospects and were not usually disappointed by the results. He contrasts them with the English founders of New England, many of whom were intent on creating wilderness theocracies and discouraging non-believers from impeding their prospects for the afterlife.
As examples of this tolerance, the author tells the story of a young woman who arrived in New Amsterdam after being encouraged by the municipal authorities of the original Amsterdam to change residence. Her activities upon arrival in Manhattan lead Mr. Shorto to bestow upon her the title of "America's first prostitute". She eventually paired with a man of Moroccan ancestry whose lengthy professional resume was usually summarized as piracy. Their complementary skill sets made them prosperous in 17th century Manhattan and their fecundity has resulted in their appearance in the genealogies of many 21st century Americans, including that of my own brother-in-law.
Whether or not you buy into Mr. Shorto's assertion that the tolerant attitudes of Dutch Manhattan have been instrumental in forging such attitudes in America as a whole, you will probably find the characters described in this book to be interesting, and you may be surprised by the little things introduced by the Dutch that are still very much with us today.
November 10, 2009
I picked up The Island at the Center of the World because it directly targets two of my own personal obsessions: New York history and Dutch language. Author Russell Shorto builds it upon thirty years of translation work by a man called Charles Gehring, a specialist in 17th century Dutch who resurrected the complete records of New Amsterdam, the Dutch settlement that is now New York City and environs. Shorto's thesis is that the Dutch colony was more successful and more influential than previously believed, unjustly forgotten because of the language barrier and because of Anglocentrist historians who both downplayed its significance and judged it a failure based on the criteria of the more religious New England colonies.
There is a lot here to satisfy the curious New Yorker--Broadway's origin as an Indian path, stories about the first Brooklynites--but what makes this worth reading is its portrayal of Adriaen van der Donck, who opposed the autocratic rule of Peter Stuyvesant and insisted that the inhabitants of New Amsterdam deserved the rights of Dutch citizens, as opposed to employees of the Dutch East India Company. Trained as a lawyer at Leyden University (possibly even under the tutelage of Spinoza and Descartes), he even sailed back to the Netherlands at one point to make his case before the States General. Shorto shows that the egalitarianism of the Dutch Golden Age was brought to America by van der Donck and how echoes of it even made their way, more than a hundred years later, into our founding documents. Despite all this, however, van der Donck was forgotten after his death in an Indian raid. The only sign of him left in New York is the town of Yonkers (New Amsterdammers called him "Jonker," i.e. landowner).
Most refreshing about this book is the vision it presents of a freewheeling, open society in early America--an attractive alternative for anyone who spent their school years learning about the prudent and stuffy Pilgrims. Shorto fittingly writes in a relatively breezy and unacademic style, a la Barbara Tuchman. Sometimes he takes the informality too far. On the whole, though, I found this a very worthwhile read.
There is a lot here to satisfy the curious New Yorker--Broadway's origin as an Indian path, stories about the first Brooklynites--but what makes this worth reading is its portrayal of Adriaen van der Donck, who opposed the autocratic rule of Peter Stuyvesant and insisted that the inhabitants of New Amsterdam deserved the rights of Dutch citizens, as opposed to employees of the Dutch East India Company. Trained as a lawyer at Leyden University (possibly even under the tutelage of Spinoza and Descartes), he even sailed back to the Netherlands at one point to make his case before the States General. Shorto shows that the egalitarianism of the Dutch Golden Age was brought to America by van der Donck and how echoes of it even made their way, more than a hundred years later, into our founding documents. Despite all this, however, van der Donck was forgotten after his death in an Indian raid. The only sign of him left in New York is the town of Yonkers (New Amsterdammers called him "Jonker," i.e. landowner).
Most refreshing about this book is the vision it presents of a freewheeling, open society in early America--an attractive alternative for anyone who spent their school years learning about the prudent and stuffy Pilgrims. Shorto fittingly writes in a relatively breezy and unacademic style, a la Barbara Tuchman. Sometimes he takes the informality too far. On the whole, though, I found this a very worthwhile read.
March 1, 2019
About a decade ago when I was living in New Jersey, I used to drive every weekend from New Jersey to Massachusetts to see my girlfriend. While driving back I used to take a road called the Saw Mill Parkway, near a town called Yonkers, on the way to crossing the Tappan Zee bridge. Both reference points seemed completely nondescript to me then. What I did not know until now was that both Yonkers and the Saw Mill Parkway are the only tributes in this country to a remarkable man and a lost time which, if it had endured, could have significantly influenced the history of this country.
The remarkable man was Adriaen van der Donck, a Dutchman who brought the liberal outlook of 17th century Amsterdam to the Dutch colony of New Netherlands, with its capital New Amsterdam. He was known as a 'Jonkheer' or 'young lord', and on his estate up the Hudson river he built a saw mill. Hence Yonkers and the Saw Mill Parkway.
Today about the only two things that most people know about the place was that it was bought from the Indians in 1626 for the seemingly laughably small sum of 60 guilders or 24 dollars, and that New Amsterdam became New York when the English took over it in 1664. During that period it became the most progressive European colony in America, reflecting the liberal, multicultural, intellectual and progressive spirit of the Netherlands, but its history is basically taught today as an English history. Russell Shorto's engaging book charts the history of this remarkable and forgotten colony, from the discovery of the location by Henry Hudson in 1608 (about the time that Jamestown was founded) to its takeover by the English.
Much of the book centers on two larger-than-life characters; Adriaen van der Donck and Peter Stuyvesant who were sort of opposites; the former is virtually forgotten while the latter lives on in the form of names like Stuyvesant High School. Van der Donck was educated at Leiden which then had a university rivaling Oxford in its embrace of natural philosophy and logic, and the Netherlands was already serving as a refuge for religious apostates like pilgrims and Rene Descartes. Inspired by his law studies at Leiden, Van der Donck had a scientists' eye for observation and objectivity. He made friends with the Indians, lived with them, studied the plants, animals, mountains and rivers in the vast landscape of what is now the Albany region and wrote a book describing the land that became a bestseller. He brought principles of representative government and religious freedom to New Amsterdam.
Stuyvesant who had fought the Spanish in South America and lost a leg to a cannonball belonged to the conservative old guard and believed in exercising the will of the company of which he was director - the Dutch West India Company which was then scouting around the world looking for natural and human resources. Although Stuyvesant and van der Donck were on good terms before, Stuyvesant's heavy-handed management of the colony led van der Donck and a select few settlers to write protests to the Hague laying out some remarkably forward-looking principles of secular governance for the colony.
And yet somehow, between Stuyvesant's authoritarian but dogged direction and van der Donck's progressive views, New Amsterdam for a few decades became a model for secular civilization that later defined New York City as a melting pot, a unique place with a ragtag band of seamen, traders, brewers, prostitutes, soldiers, farmers, freethinkers, frontiersmen and people from all countries and professions which encouraged multiculturalism and religious freedom, in significant contrast to the monocultural, religiously rigid Puritan colonies of New England to the North; in fact it served as a refuge for persecuted Englishmen and women from New England who settled mainly in Long Island. It also largely regarded the neighboring Indian tribes as equals and traded beaver furs and wampum with them, and unlike the English at Jamestown rarely engaged in murderous conflict with the natives. Under van der Donck's leadership, the Netherlands was going to institute a bonafide progressive government in the place - the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 had inspired a general sentiment of tolerance and peace - but sadly the beginning of the Anglo-Dutch wars led the country to again cede authority to the West India Company, and Stuyvesant again had the upper hand. Nonetheless the colony still flourished because of its decentralized nature.
The book describes how the colony bequeathed many Americanisms, among them "boss" (from "baas"), "coleslaw" (from "koosla") and "cookies" (from "koekje"). A lot of upstate New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, (the name Schuylkill is Dutch) and especially New York City have a deeply embedded Dutch heritage, and there's even a non-trivial amount of Swedish and Finnish heritage that came from a Swedish colony that endured for about twenty years in what's now Delaware before it capitulated to the Dutch. The end of the colony came when the English first under Cromwell and then under Charles II realized the lucrative advantage that the location would provide in exploring the interior up the Hudson river, along with a strategic waypoint for the then exploding slave trade. Van der Donck sadly died in an Indian raid while Stuyvesant lived out his life in his colony and was buried there in 1672. The golden age of Dutch civilization and free thought was on the decline, and England - and the English version of history - took over.
There is no doubt that New Amsterdam was a model of religious and cultural tolerance that needs to be remembered, largely because there was no system of top-down governance there for a long time, but perhaps Shorto overstates the influence it had on future developments in the United States including the Constitution; nobody knows how exactly history would have turned out had there been two dominant colonies - the English to the North and the Dutch to the South, but it would have been very interesting indeed. Ironically, in his zeal to demonstrate how forgotten secular New Amsterdam was, Shorto fails, even when mentioning New England in some detail, to mention even once the equally secular and remarkable secular experiment to the North which I wrote about earlier - Roger Williams and his founding of Rhode Island. Seems like someone's always forgotten.
The remarkable man was Adriaen van der Donck, a Dutchman who brought the liberal outlook of 17th century Amsterdam to the Dutch colony of New Netherlands, with its capital New Amsterdam. He was known as a 'Jonkheer' or 'young lord', and on his estate up the Hudson river he built a saw mill. Hence Yonkers and the Saw Mill Parkway.
Today about the only two things that most people know about the place was that it was bought from the Indians in 1626 for the seemingly laughably small sum of 60 guilders or 24 dollars, and that New Amsterdam became New York when the English took over it in 1664. During that period it became the most progressive European colony in America, reflecting the liberal, multicultural, intellectual and progressive spirit of the Netherlands, but its history is basically taught today as an English history. Russell Shorto's engaging book charts the history of this remarkable and forgotten colony, from the discovery of the location by Henry Hudson in 1608 (about the time that Jamestown was founded) to its takeover by the English.
Much of the book centers on two larger-than-life characters; Adriaen van der Donck and Peter Stuyvesant who were sort of opposites; the former is virtually forgotten while the latter lives on in the form of names like Stuyvesant High School. Van der Donck was educated at Leiden which then had a university rivaling Oxford in its embrace of natural philosophy and logic, and the Netherlands was already serving as a refuge for religious apostates like pilgrims and Rene Descartes. Inspired by his law studies at Leiden, Van der Donck had a scientists' eye for observation and objectivity. He made friends with the Indians, lived with them, studied the plants, animals, mountains and rivers in the vast landscape of what is now the Albany region and wrote a book describing the land that became a bestseller. He brought principles of representative government and religious freedom to New Amsterdam.
Stuyvesant who had fought the Spanish in South America and lost a leg to a cannonball belonged to the conservative old guard and believed in exercising the will of the company of which he was director - the Dutch West India Company which was then scouting around the world looking for natural and human resources. Although Stuyvesant and van der Donck were on good terms before, Stuyvesant's heavy-handed management of the colony led van der Donck and a select few settlers to write protests to the Hague laying out some remarkably forward-looking principles of secular governance for the colony.
And yet somehow, between Stuyvesant's authoritarian but dogged direction and van der Donck's progressive views, New Amsterdam for a few decades became a model for secular civilization that later defined New York City as a melting pot, a unique place with a ragtag band of seamen, traders, brewers, prostitutes, soldiers, farmers, freethinkers, frontiersmen and people from all countries and professions which encouraged multiculturalism and religious freedom, in significant contrast to the monocultural, religiously rigid Puritan colonies of New England to the North; in fact it served as a refuge for persecuted Englishmen and women from New England who settled mainly in Long Island. It also largely regarded the neighboring Indian tribes as equals and traded beaver furs and wampum with them, and unlike the English at Jamestown rarely engaged in murderous conflict with the natives. Under van der Donck's leadership, the Netherlands was going to institute a bonafide progressive government in the place - the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 had inspired a general sentiment of tolerance and peace - but sadly the beginning of the Anglo-Dutch wars led the country to again cede authority to the West India Company, and Stuyvesant again had the upper hand. Nonetheless the colony still flourished because of its decentralized nature.
The book describes how the colony bequeathed many Americanisms, among them "boss" (from "baas"), "coleslaw" (from "koosla") and "cookies" (from "koekje"). A lot of upstate New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, (the name Schuylkill is Dutch) and especially New York City have a deeply embedded Dutch heritage, and there's even a non-trivial amount of Swedish and Finnish heritage that came from a Swedish colony that endured for about twenty years in what's now Delaware before it capitulated to the Dutch. The end of the colony came when the English first under Cromwell and then under Charles II realized the lucrative advantage that the location would provide in exploring the interior up the Hudson river, along with a strategic waypoint for the then exploding slave trade. Van der Donck sadly died in an Indian raid while Stuyvesant lived out his life in his colony and was buried there in 1672. The golden age of Dutch civilization and free thought was on the decline, and England - and the English version of history - took over.
There is no doubt that New Amsterdam was a model of religious and cultural tolerance that needs to be remembered, largely because there was no system of top-down governance there for a long time, but perhaps Shorto overstates the influence it had on future developments in the United States including the Constitution; nobody knows how exactly history would have turned out had there been two dominant colonies - the English to the North and the Dutch to the South, but it would have been very interesting indeed. Ironically, in his zeal to demonstrate how forgotten secular New Amsterdam was, Shorto fails, even when mentioning New England in some detail, to mention even once the equally secular and remarkable secular experiment to the North which I wrote about earlier - Roger Williams and his founding of Rhode Island. Seems like someone's always forgotten.
November 19, 2008
The story of how Santa Claus came to America is long on extraneous facts and short on compelling narrative. A lot of people really like this book, and I very much enjoyed Shorto's style of writing, but his protagonist, Adriaen Van der Donck, is as dull as paste for at least two reasons:
1. As Shorto points out, most of the information we have on this man has been lost to history. So, Shorto has to "imagine" what Van der Donck was probably doing on many important days. Far too many passages begin with "one can only imagine what Van der Donck..." etc. etc.
2. Much of the information we have on Van der Donck is from his own hand, and man, does he love making lists. His list of trees, for example ("post-oak...butter oak...hickory...water-beech...hedge beech, axhandle wood, two sorts of canoe wood, ash, birch, pine, lathwood, Imberen or wild cedar, linden, alder, willow, thorn, elder") made me want to tear my hair out.
Still, I now realize how key Dutch Manhattan is to U.S. History, thanks to this book. I just wish we had more detailed accounts and less pig-related lawsuits and lists of trees.
1. As Shorto points out, most of the information we have on this man has been lost to history. So, Shorto has to "imagine" what Van der Donck was probably doing on many important days. Far too many passages begin with "one can only imagine what Van der Donck..." etc. etc.
2. Much of the information we have on Van der Donck is from his own hand, and man, does he love making lists. His list of trees, for example ("post-oak...butter oak...hickory...water-beech...hedge beech, axhandle wood, two sorts of canoe wood, ash, birch, pine, lathwood, Imberen or wild cedar, linden, alder, willow, thorn, elder") made me want to tear my hair out.
Still, I now realize how key Dutch Manhattan is to U.S. History, thanks to this book. I just wish we had more detailed accounts and less pig-related lawsuits and lists of trees.
March 10, 2020
I was only dimly aware that New York was originally New Amsterdam and that it had been part of the Dutch empire before the British took it over. The Island at the Center of the World is a history of the 40-year lifespan of the Dutch colony, leading up to the bloodless British victory of 1664.
In reality, the Dutch colony of New Netherland -- of which the city of New Amsterdam was the main settlement -- was not so much a colony as a possession of a private company. That company, the Dutch West India Company, didn't highly prize its asset, mainly because there was so much more money to be made in the Caribbean where there was sugar to be grown and armies of slaves to be exploited. In contrast, New Netherland was mainly populated by farmers and traders, who were not as profitable as slaves and sugar (or as the spices that were the main source of revenue of the Dutch East India Company, the other main Dutch trading company).
New Netherland was huge, extending from the Connecticut River in the middle of present-day Connecticut all the way down to Delaware. To the north and to the south lay British colonies, and the British had their eye on the Dutch possession once it became clear what a wonderful harbor New Amsterdam was and that the Hudson River was critical for access to the interior of the continent. The British and Dutch were imperial and trading rivals, and were the two fastest rising maritime powers of their day in the 1600's. This period was in fact what later centuries would come to recognize as the Netherlands' Golden Age -- Rembrandt, Vermeer, the Amsterdam stock market, the conquest of Indonesia, and all that. It was to be the last time that the Netherlands rivaled Great Britain in power and wealth.
Not surprisingly, since the British wanted New Netherland, and the Dutch West India Company didn't value it enough to invest sufficiently in its defense, the colony succumbed almost immediately when the British sent a fleet to seize it in 1664. The patron of the military expedition was the future King James II, then the Duke of York. So New Amsterdam became New York, and that was that -- other than a brief period of 15 months when the Dutch took it back in one of their many wars with the British, only to surrender it yet again during the territory-swapping of the peace treaty negotiations. The British kept New York, and the Dutch kept Surinam (a speck of tropical forest and swamp on the north-east coast of South America, known mainly to stamp collectors). It was a better deal for the British.
The main theme of the book is that New Amsterdam -- a village of 1500 people in 1664 -- was a different sort of place because of the religiously-tolerant, ethnically-diverse and republican-minded culture of the town and the colony. Furthermore, he argues that this heritage descended down through the centuries even after the British conquered it and that it continues to influence the city today. It is convenient that NYC today is tolerant, diverse and non-monarchical (despite the presence of Donald Trump). However, if you look at other former Dutch settlements of that era such as Cape Town in South Africa and Djakarta in Indonesia, they don't have that kind of tradition or culture. This tends to undermine the argument. It seems much more likely that it was the British colonial heritage that played a far larger role, since the British presence lasted much longer, the city grew far larger, the system of government was much more deeply rooted, and the colony was embedded in a much larger web of multiple American colonies all sharing a common heritage.
So on the whole, I think Russell Shorto's theme is over-sold and most likely largely wrong, but it's a great read just the same. The book is well-researched, the stories are well-told, and if you like New York at all, you'll learn a lot more about the roots of a great city.
In reality, the Dutch colony of New Netherland -- of which the city of New Amsterdam was the main settlement -- was not so much a colony as a possession of a private company. That company, the Dutch West India Company, didn't highly prize its asset, mainly because there was so much more money to be made in the Caribbean where there was sugar to be grown and armies of slaves to be exploited. In contrast, New Netherland was mainly populated by farmers and traders, who were not as profitable as slaves and sugar (or as the spices that were the main source of revenue of the Dutch East India Company, the other main Dutch trading company).
New Netherland was huge, extending from the Connecticut River in the middle of present-day Connecticut all the way down to Delaware. To the north and to the south lay British colonies, and the British had their eye on the Dutch possession once it became clear what a wonderful harbor New Amsterdam was and that the Hudson River was critical for access to the interior of the continent. The British and Dutch were imperial and trading rivals, and were the two fastest rising maritime powers of their day in the 1600's. This period was in fact what later centuries would come to recognize as the Netherlands' Golden Age -- Rembrandt, Vermeer, the Amsterdam stock market, the conquest of Indonesia, and all that. It was to be the last time that the Netherlands rivaled Great Britain in power and wealth.
Not surprisingly, since the British wanted New Netherland, and the Dutch West India Company didn't value it enough to invest sufficiently in its defense, the colony succumbed almost immediately when the British sent a fleet to seize it in 1664. The patron of the military expedition was the future King James II, then the Duke of York. So New Amsterdam became New York, and that was that -- other than a brief period of 15 months when the Dutch took it back in one of their many wars with the British, only to surrender it yet again during the territory-swapping of the peace treaty negotiations. The British kept New York, and the Dutch kept Surinam (a speck of tropical forest and swamp on the north-east coast of South America, known mainly to stamp collectors). It was a better deal for the British.
The main theme of the book is that New Amsterdam -- a village of 1500 people in 1664 -- was a different sort of place because of the religiously-tolerant, ethnically-diverse and republican-minded culture of the town and the colony. Furthermore, he argues that this heritage descended down through the centuries even after the British conquered it and that it continues to influence the city today. It is convenient that NYC today is tolerant, diverse and non-monarchical (despite the presence of Donald Trump). However, if you look at other former Dutch settlements of that era such as Cape Town in South Africa and Djakarta in Indonesia, they don't have that kind of tradition or culture. This tends to undermine the argument. It seems much more likely that it was the British colonial heritage that played a far larger role, since the British presence lasted much longer, the city grew far larger, the system of government was much more deeply rooted, and the colony was embedded in a much larger web of multiple American colonies all sharing a common heritage.
So on the whole, I think Russell Shorto's theme is over-sold and most likely largely wrong, but it's a great read just the same. The book is well-researched, the stories are well-told, and if you like New York at all, you'll learn a lot more about the roots of a great city.
June 13, 2024
This book is about the original Dutch colony founded on the island of Manhattan, originally called New Amsterdam. I knew it existed, but that was literally the limit of my knowledge - so this book was a real eye-opener. It charts the history of the colony: its internal struggles with the West Indian Company and its directors, mostly famously Peter Stuyvesant; the on-off again conflicts with the Native Americans; its rivalries with the neighbouring Swedish and English colonies; and its eventual takeover by England during the period breakout of war between England and the Netherlands. It also serves to highlight just how great the influence of the Dutch was in the founding of America - how New York was and always has been a very different creature to the other early cities, like Boston and Philadelphia.
I couldn't put this book down. It's as readable as a novel and twice as interesting. If only all non-fiction could be written like this. I don't think I've ever come across such a wonderfully written history book. Take this section for example:
This book invites you to do the impossible: to strip from your mental image of Manhattan Island all associations of power, concrete, and glass; to put time into full reverse, unfill the massive landfills, and undo the extensive leveling programs that flattened hills and filled gullies; to return streams from the underground sewers they were forced into, back to their original rushing or meandering course. To witness the return of waterfalls, to watch freshwater ponds form in place of asphalt intersections; to let buildings vanish and watch stands of pine oak, sweetgum, basswood, and hawthorne take their place. To imagine the return of salt marshes, mudflats, grasslands, of leopard frogs, grebes, cormorants, and bitterns; to discover newly pure estuaries encrusting themselves with scallops, lamp mussels, oysters, quahogs, and clams. To see maple-ringed meadows become numbered with deer and the higher elevations ruled by wolves.
And then to stop the time machine, let it hover for a moment on the southernmost tip of an island poised between the Atlantic Ocean and the civilization of Europe on one side and a virgin continent on the other; to let that movement swell, hearing the screech of gulls and the slap of waves and imagining these same sounds, waves and birds, waves and birds, with regular interruptions by wracking storms, unchanged for dozens of centuries.
And then let time start forward once again as something comes into view on the horizons. Sails.
When was the last time you read history written like that?
I couldn't put this book down. It's as readable as a novel and twice as interesting. If only all non-fiction could be written like this. I don't think I've ever come across such a wonderfully written history book. Take this section for example:
This book invites you to do the impossible: to strip from your mental image of Manhattan Island all associations of power, concrete, and glass; to put time into full reverse, unfill the massive landfills, and undo the extensive leveling programs that flattened hills and filled gullies; to return streams from the underground sewers they were forced into, back to their original rushing or meandering course. To witness the return of waterfalls, to watch freshwater ponds form in place of asphalt intersections; to let buildings vanish and watch stands of pine oak, sweetgum, basswood, and hawthorne take their place. To imagine the return of salt marshes, mudflats, grasslands, of leopard frogs, grebes, cormorants, and bitterns; to discover newly pure estuaries encrusting themselves with scallops, lamp mussels, oysters, quahogs, and clams. To see maple-ringed meadows become numbered with deer and the higher elevations ruled by wolves.
And then to stop the time machine, let it hover for a moment on the southernmost tip of an island poised between the Atlantic Ocean and the civilization of Europe on one side and a virgin continent on the other; to let that movement swell, hearing the screech of gulls and the slap of waves and imagining these same sounds, waves and birds, waves and birds, with regular interruptions by wracking storms, unchanged for dozens of centuries.
And then let time start forward once again as something comes into view on the horizons. Sails.
When was the last time you read history written like that?
October 13, 2023
I read this book as I have a heritage from the Netherlands, and descend from the original Dutch colonial families on both sides of my family. The book was a fast read. I really wanted to like this book, however it is very poorly written and researched. I am very glad I did not buy this book as my library had a copy.
It is in a genre I call revisionist history, where it is just a very basic history book that just tells the reader very basic history without much depth, and honestly I have read history essays or reports from school children K-12 who are better historians than Shorto is.
Shorto takes way too many liberties with Adriaen van der Donck, claiming that Adriaen van der Donck and other people 'possibly' did this, or 'might' or 'probably' did something when in actuality there is no real proof of his claims at all. Shorto also tends to go off on way too many tangents, or go off topic about things that have absolutely nothing to do with New Netherland, the Dutch, etc. The book needed to be edited down by about 100-200 pages. Shorto writes about the most mundane topics ever just to add pointless pages and filler.
The author claims he "discovered" all of this new information about New Netherland, this is a typical lie and something Narcissistic people do, taking the hard work and research of others and taking credit for it as your own which is what he did. There are many, many people who wrote about New Netherland Centuries and decades long before Shorto did-he's not Dutch or Belgian at all-Dutch names of places on maps, streets, entire towns, cities, etc. The bibliography in the back of the book was not complete either and Shorto obviously did not read any of these books or actually really read the original records or writings from New Netherland in Dutch as he cannot read it or translate it. There were many, many errors in the book and the author is a charlatan and not a historian.
Also the author Shorto is completely incorrect as New Netherland is not forgotten at all, and it was never "Secret" or "hidden" ever. Another negative and very glaring error is how Shorto claims that the Dutch were the first to bring religious freedom or religious tolerance to North America, while completely ignoring both Roger Williams and William Penn. So that is why I gave the book 1 star instead of 2.
It is in a genre I call revisionist history, where it is just a very basic history book that just tells the reader very basic history without much depth, and honestly I have read history essays or reports from school children K-12 who are better historians than Shorto is.
Shorto takes way too many liberties with Adriaen van der Donck, claiming that Adriaen van der Donck and other people 'possibly' did this, or 'might' or 'probably' did something when in actuality there is no real proof of his claims at all. Shorto also tends to go off on way too many tangents, or go off topic about things that have absolutely nothing to do with New Netherland, the Dutch, etc. The book needed to be edited down by about 100-200 pages. Shorto writes about the most mundane topics ever just to add pointless pages and filler.
The author claims he "discovered" all of this new information about New Netherland, this is a typical lie and something Narcissistic people do, taking the hard work and research of others and taking credit for it as your own which is what he did. There are many, many people who wrote about New Netherland Centuries and decades long before Shorto did-he's not Dutch or Belgian at all-Dutch names of places on maps, streets, entire towns, cities, etc. The bibliography in the back of the book was not complete either and Shorto obviously did not read any of these books or actually really read the original records or writings from New Netherland in Dutch as he cannot read it or translate it. There were many, many errors in the book and the author is a charlatan and not a historian.
Also the author Shorto is completely incorrect as New Netherland is not forgotten at all, and it was never "Secret" or "hidden" ever. Another negative and very glaring error is how Shorto claims that the Dutch were the first to bring religious freedom or religious tolerance to North America, while completely ignoring both Roger Williams and William Penn. So that is why I gave the book 1 star instead of 2.
Read
December 25, 2008Dissertation topics, taken to 30 years research are hard to make interesting, but this author did it, for me. Important read for anyone with Dutch ancestry (like mine) and anyone studying American culture, Manhattan culture, or who wants to view capitalism through a different prism. As melting pot, model of tolerance and opportunity, mecca of creativity in early America... and as a lesson for failure to protect those values... a book packed with examples. A bit dry, but like all the toppings you can put on a wasa cracker... if you make the effort and keep reaching for the samplers, you'll hopefully find this an educational read, as I did.
November 4, 2017
Found this interesting, held my attention enough to try several other of the author's books. If you have never tried Shorto, and would like to enter the world of Dutch Manhattan, I'd recommend ...
March 30, 2014
Pilgrims and turkeys dominate youthful stories of our country’s founding. Adults regularly hear the truism that Puritanism imbues our culture with strict moralism and inflexibility (and probably nod in agreement). Always we hear of the stalwart British, fighting to control the continent, winning perhaps because they were the most upright. And so we have come to regard our history, written as usual by the victors.
Russell Shorto begs to differ. The Island at the Center of the World seeks to convince us of the importance of the Dutch colony which controlled not just Manhattan, but also parts of four additional states. It was founded not on religious principles but as a trading post for the West India Company. Therein lay both its strength and its weakness. As a trading center, the Company allowed many kinds of people to live in its borders, establishing the first truly diverse community on our shores (a trait Shorto delights in, pointing out repeatedly that it was the ancestor for our most diverse modern city). The West India Company managed its colony as a fiefdom, however, and in the crucial moment when its inhabitants would need to stand up to the British, they had no sense of loyalty and refused to fight. Hence history generally judged the Dutch colony a failure.
Shorto believes the lively, entrepreneurial, diverse community of New Amsterdam, which became New York, left its mark as surely as the Puritans did. He regards the Dutch settlement as a successful one, forgotten in part because of language and Anglocentricism.
The source for Shorto’s popular history is the work of a man named Charles Gehring, a scholar of the 17th-century Dutch language, who had at the time of this book spent thirty years translating records of New Amsterdam. [Now, ten years later, he’s been translating for forty years, and there’s more to come.] Shorto describes with some glee the working environment of Gehring, who tends to refer to the characters in the Dutch records as if they are close friends. One can only guess that these records will be the source of close study by graduate students and scholars for many years to come, particularly when the translations are complete.
In the meantime, this book is a delightful read, full of details of ordinary life as well as giving a full back story of life in The Netherlands, an advanced European culture whose ideas were often carried across the ocean. I appreciated that Shorto identified New Amsterdam locations in terms of what town or neighborhood is there now. I had a great time picturing forts and farms in Manhattan!
Shorto himself is too present in the book, looking over our shoulders a little too eagerly to press home his ideas. A second criticism is that he too easily makes a leap from 17th-century New Amsterdam to present-day New York, finding direct influences. It was a thesis he seemed hard pressed to prove, given the many intervening years and a war for independence. Nevertheless, I enjoyed immersing myself in a part of colonial history I never knew a thing about. Peter Stuyvesant had a wooden leg: now that’s not history.
I can’t abandon this review without mentioning a central character. We generally know about Peter Stuyvesant and Peter Minuit, who have made it into our history books.
Shorto wants us to know about Adriaen van der Donck, who is practically forgotten (except that the young gentleman, the “Jonk Herr,” gave his name to Yonkers). Van der Donck is something of a hero to Shorto, because he adventured far on his own, and he tried to persuade the Dutch government to remove the colony from the control of the West India Company. Initially van der Donck succeeded. His personality and persuasiveness led the government to adopt his proposals for change and to put him in charge, not Stuyvesant. They gave him a commission to be president of the colony. He prepared to return to his beloved New Amsterdam home.
Oliver Cromwell was the unexpected stumbling block. He engaged the Dutch in warfare, and the government reversed its decision and allowed the West India Company to continue to represent them in the colony. After all, the Company had originally been conceived as a military arm to control the seas and the colonial trade. New Netherlands was just one part of the vast colonial empire, and van der Donck was up against the powers that controlled and benefitted from the status quo.
Van der Donck, held in The Netherlands, wrote wistfully of his new world home. He believed that New Amsterdam would grow and prosper, because there would be immigrants from many lands, who would be welcomed. He had a vision of a Dutch land, prospering and diverse, sharing the territory with the Indians. It was a prescient vision. He was right that Manhattan was in the right place, that the land was valuable, that the port was first rate. Although he eventually returned to these shores, he vanished into history.
Russell Shorto begs to differ. The Island at the Center of the World seeks to convince us of the importance of the Dutch colony which controlled not just Manhattan, but also parts of four additional states. It was founded not on religious principles but as a trading post for the West India Company. Therein lay both its strength and its weakness. As a trading center, the Company allowed many kinds of people to live in its borders, establishing the first truly diverse community on our shores (a trait Shorto delights in, pointing out repeatedly that it was the ancestor for our most diverse modern city). The West India Company managed its colony as a fiefdom, however, and in the crucial moment when its inhabitants would need to stand up to the British, they had no sense of loyalty and refused to fight. Hence history generally judged the Dutch colony a failure.
Shorto believes the lively, entrepreneurial, diverse community of New Amsterdam, which became New York, left its mark as surely as the Puritans did. He regards the Dutch settlement as a successful one, forgotten in part because of language and Anglocentricism.
The source for Shorto’s popular history is the work of a man named Charles Gehring, a scholar of the 17th-century Dutch language, who had at the time of this book spent thirty years translating records of New Amsterdam. [Now, ten years later, he’s been translating for forty years, and there’s more to come.] Shorto describes with some glee the working environment of Gehring, who tends to refer to the characters in the Dutch records as if they are close friends. One can only guess that these records will be the source of close study by graduate students and scholars for many years to come, particularly when the translations are complete.
In the meantime, this book is a delightful read, full of details of ordinary life as well as giving a full back story of life in The Netherlands, an advanced European culture whose ideas were often carried across the ocean. I appreciated that Shorto identified New Amsterdam locations in terms of what town or neighborhood is there now. I had a great time picturing forts and farms in Manhattan!
Shorto himself is too present in the book, looking over our shoulders a little too eagerly to press home his ideas. A second criticism is that he too easily makes a leap from 17th-century New Amsterdam to present-day New York, finding direct influences. It was a thesis he seemed hard pressed to prove, given the many intervening years and a war for independence. Nevertheless, I enjoyed immersing myself in a part of colonial history I never knew a thing about. Peter Stuyvesant had a wooden leg: now that’s not history.
I can’t abandon this review without mentioning a central character. We generally know about Peter Stuyvesant and Peter Minuit, who have made it into our history books.
Shorto wants us to know about Adriaen van der Donck, who is practically forgotten (except that the young gentleman, the “Jonk Herr,” gave his name to Yonkers). Van der Donck is something of a hero to Shorto, because he adventured far on his own, and he tried to persuade the Dutch government to remove the colony from the control of the West India Company. Initially van der Donck succeeded. His personality and persuasiveness led the government to adopt his proposals for change and to put him in charge, not Stuyvesant. They gave him a commission to be president of the colony. He prepared to return to his beloved New Amsterdam home.
Oliver Cromwell was the unexpected stumbling block. He engaged the Dutch in warfare, and the government reversed its decision and allowed the West India Company to continue to represent them in the colony. After all, the Company had originally been conceived as a military arm to control the seas and the colonial trade. New Netherlands was just one part of the vast colonial empire, and van der Donck was up against the powers that controlled and benefitted from the status quo.
Van der Donck, held in The Netherlands, wrote wistfully of his new world home. He believed that New Amsterdam would grow and prosper, because there would be immigrants from many lands, who would be welcomed. He had a vision of a Dutch land, prospering and diverse, sharing the territory with the Indians. It was a prescient vision. He was right that Manhattan was in the right place, that the land was valuable, that the port was first rate. Although he eventually returned to these shores, he vanished into history.
August 2, 2007
This is based upon the audio download from [www.Audible.com]
Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
The audio version of this book is enhanced through the correct pronunciation of all the Dutch names and words. Rather than wildly guessing as I read it, it is spoken correctly for me.
This is the story of the first multi-ethnic culture in America. Truly, Manhattan has been a melting pot since the founding of New Amsterdam.
I never knew the story behind Dutch Manhattan other than they bought it from the Indians for $24. The rest of that story is here as well as how the island bounced back and forth five times between the Dutch and English. Dutch influenced early American and still today through such contributions as cookies, cole slaw, the district attorney and such families names as Roosevelt.
I guarantee there is much here that you never knew!
Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
The audio version of this book is enhanced through the correct pronunciation of all the Dutch names and words. Rather than wildly guessing as I read it, it is spoken correctly for me.
This is the story of the first multi-ethnic culture in America. Truly, Manhattan has been a melting pot since the founding of New Amsterdam.
I never knew the story behind Dutch Manhattan other than they bought it from the Indians for $24. The rest of that story is here as well as how the island bounced back and forth five times between the Dutch and English. Dutch influenced early American and still today through such contributions as cookies, cole slaw, the district attorney and such families names as Roosevelt.
I guarantee there is much here that you never knew!
Shelved as 'abandoned'
July 9, 2020Read through page 49.
It's odd to call a book both florid and dull, but in this case both adjectives seem apt. In part it's perhaps because the author waxes florid and wordy on topics that are either unimportant or speculative. Why do we need an extended description of the route Henry Hudson might have walked through London from his house to a meeting with the directors of the Muscovy Company, who then turned him down for his intended voyage, after which he wound up being sponsored by a Dutch company instead? This walk through London seems like a fairly meaningless moment in his life, much less to the history of New Amsterdam before it became New York. This book promised to reveal the little-known Dutch influences on America, after which I found it strange to have so much emphasis on Brits rather than Dutch people in the text.
On to the next one.
It's odd to call a book both florid and dull, but in this case both adjectives seem apt. In part it's perhaps because the author waxes florid and wordy on topics that are either unimportant or speculative. Why do we need an extended description of the route Henry Hudson might have walked through London from his house to a meeting with the directors of the Muscovy Company, who then turned him down for his intended voyage, after which he wound up being sponsored by a Dutch company instead? This walk through London seems like a fairly meaningless moment in his life, much less to the history of New Amsterdam before it became New York. This book promised to reveal the little-known Dutch influences on America, after which I found it strange to have so much emphasis on Brits rather than Dutch people in the text.
On to the next one.
January 9, 2021
As delightful to read as it is informative. Filled me with inspiration to learn more about the characters and history of New Amsterdam. Shorto is a gripping storyteller, and I’ll be tracking down his other books.
January 15, 2013
Sometimes we read for total pleasure and escape. Sometimes we read because we want to learn something. Sometimes we read because we’ve promised a dear friend we will support her book discussion at the local library even though we’d never select the book for ourselves.
“Island at the Center of the World” falls into the last category, but as I told my dear friend today when I arrived for the discussion, I’m very glad I persevered and read this.
If goodreads.com weren’t forcing me into full stars, I’d give it 3.5 stars.
Who should read this? Early American history buffs. Native New Yorkers. Anyone living in Manhattan or Albany or anywhere near the Husdson River now. Anyone of Dutch heritage.
Shotro’s book, published in 2004, is the first to use translated original Dutch documents from the 1600s to fill in what really happened as New Amsterdam became New York. Shorto’s thesis is Manhattan is where the “real America” began. It’s the original multicultural community foreshadowing our country today.
Shorto reminds readers, “…history is written by the winners” (319) and that is why we all learned the skewed history we did of the Middle Colonies. I wonder if schoolchildren today in New York State are learning anything different than they did more than 30 years ago. I wonder if the graduates of prestigious Stuyvesant High School in New York City have a romanticized view of their school’s namesake.
The major players are Henry Hudson, Peter Stuyvesant (a true Shakespearean tragic hero) and Adriaen van der Donck, one historic figure I’d never known about. There’s much, much more.
Here’s a bit of trivia I learned from reading this book: The Dutch first had the concept of a District (or Prosecuting) Attorney to represent the rights of the crime victim. The term “boss” came from the Dutch, as did “cookies,” “cole slaw” and Santa Claus (Sinterklaas). Many of the ideas incorporated into our Bill of Rights originated with the Dutch since the New England colonials weren’t all that into individual rights or respecting freedoms.
Reviewers love this book. I’ve copied excerpts from the author’s website below. As I said, it wouldn’t be my pick for a “fun read,” but I’m glad I stuck with it. Thanks, Claudia, for challenging me again with your winter book group picks.
http://www.russellshorto.com/book/the...
The Island at the Center of the World was a bestseller in the U.S. It was also published in Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Brazil, and has received international acclaim. The Wall Street Journal called it “a masterpiece of storytelling and first-rate intellectual history.” The Times of London said it was “a landmark book.” The New York Times described it as “masterly” and “a book that will permanently alter the way we regard our collective past.” Holland’s Algemeen Dagblad called it “a masterwork,” and Britain’s Guardian described it as “narratively irresistible, intellectually provocative, historically invaluable.” It won the New York City Book Award, the Washington Irving Prize for contribution to New York history, and several other awards. It was a New York Times Notable Book for 2004 and was chosen by the New York Public Library as one of its 25 outstanding books for the year.
The book has helped spark a reappraisal of the Dutch colony by historians. It is taught in college and high school history courses. It has also led to a new awareness among the Dutch of their role in shaping U.S. history. It was the inspiration of a four-part documentary on Dutch public television (featuring me–here’s a You Tube clip) called “The New York Connection.”
“Island at the Center of the World” falls into the last category, but as I told my dear friend today when I arrived for the discussion, I’m very glad I persevered and read this.
If goodreads.com weren’t forcing me into full stars, I’d give it 3.5 stars.
Who should read this? Early American history buffs. Native New Yorkers. Anyone living in Manhattan or Albany or anywhere near the Husdson River now. Anyone of Dutch heritage.
Shotro’s book, published in 2004, is the first to use translated original Dutch documents from the 1600s to fill in what really happened as New Amsterdam became New York. Shorto’s thesis is Manhattan is where the “real America” began. It’s the original multicultural community foreshadowing our country today.
Shorto reminds readers, “…history is written by the winners” (319) and that is why we all learned the skewed history we did of the Middle Colonies. I wonder if schoolchildren today in New York State are learning anything different than they did more than 30 years ago. I wonder if the graduates of prestigious Stuyvesant High School in New York City have a romanticized view of their school’s namesake.
The major players are Henry Hudson, Peter Stuyvesant (a true Shakespearean tragic hero) and Adriaen van der Donck, one historic figure I’d never known about. There’s much, much more.
Here’s a bit of trivia I learned from reading this book: The Dutch first had the concept of a District (or Prosecuting) Attorney to represent the rights of the crime victim. The term “boss” came from the Dutch, as did “cookies,” “cole slaw” and Santa Claus (Sinterklaas). Many of the ideas incorporated into our Bill of Rights originated with the Dutch since the New England colonials weren’t all that into individual rights or respecting freedoms.
Reviewers love this book. I’ve copied excerpts from the author’s website below. As I said, it wouldn’t be my pick for a “fun read,” but I’m glad I stuck with it. Thanks, Claudia, for challenging me again with your winter book group picks.
http://www.russellshorto.com/book/the...
The Island at the Center of the World was a bestseller in the U.S. It was also published in Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Brazil, and has received international acclaim. The Wall Street Journal called it “a masterpiece of storytelling and first-rate intellectual history.” The Times of London said it was “a landmark book.” The New York Times described it as “masterly” and “a book that will permanently alter the way we regard our collective past.” Holland’s Algemeen Dagblad called it “a masterwork,” and Britain’s Guardian described it as “narratively irresistible, intellectually provocative, historically invaluable.” It won the New York City Book Award, the Washington Irving Prize for contribution to New York history, and several other awards. It was a New York Times Notable Book for 2004 and was chosen by the New York Public Library as one of its 25 outstanding books for the year.
The book has helped spark a reappraisal of the Dutch colony by historians. It is taught in college and high school history courses. It has also led to a new awareness among the Dutch of their role in shaping U.S. history. It was the inspiration of a four-part documentary on Dutch public television (featuring me–here’s a You Tube clip) called “The New York Connection.”
November 5, 2020
I was pretty blown away by the amount of history that Russell Shorto was able to pack into “The Island at the Center of the World.” This was a very engaging book (I wasn’t able to take many mental breaks), but I thought the author did a great job in distilling complicated 17th-century geopolitical dynamics into language that could be easily digested by the reader. A lot of it is truly interesting stuff, and Shorto keeps things light and humorous throughout. I had no idea of how the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam influenced not only New York, but, to a larger extent, what America came to be. Watching the lawyer Adriaen van der Donck battle it out with the famous Peter Stuyvescant was fascinating, too.
My main criticism—and it’s not really that big, as I would give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars if Goodreads allowed—is that it may have been a bit ambitious in its breadth. From religious wars to trade disputes, and from high stakes international diplomacy to petty personal feuds, Shorto covered it all.
Fun fact: We call cookies “cookies” because of the Dutch word “koeckjes” (pronounced “cook-yehs”). Neat!
My main criticism—and it’s not really that big, as I would give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars if Goodreads allowed—is that it may have been a bit ambitious in its breadth. From religious wars to trade disputes, and from high stakes international diplomacy to petty personal feuds, Shorto covered it all.
Fun fact: We call cookies “cookies” because of the Dutch word “koeckjes” (pronounced “cook-yehs”). Neat!
January 26, 2011
While I do appreciate the amount of research that went into this book, the limitations of working with damaged & incomplete records, the authors style was so over-the-top I just barely made it to the end. For every interesting detail there was a fanciful imagining about what else might have happened. It got so bad when I heard (I listened to the book on disc) "let us imagine" or "we can suppose" or some variation I would actually wince. It could have been 1/2 the length & a better book.
October 10, 2023
What I, as most NYC students knew of the Island of Manhattan, is that it was once known as New Amsterdam, a small Dutch colony purchased from the local Indians and was ruled by a cartoonish peg legged Dutch autocrat named Peter Stuyvesant and finally being taken over by the English.
Well, this very interesting and often entertaining history supported by much new research and discovered documents revealed an entirely more robust and true history. The then Dutch colony of New Netherland in America encompassed current upstate New York, New Jersey, half of Connecticut, Delaware and portions of Pennsylvania. Henry Hudson discovered New York on behalf of the Netherland. The Dutch then settled the colony as a business venture in the fur trade by the Dutch West India Company between 1641 and 1664. The author describes the Dutch culture of tolerance and business mindset. Stuyvesant, a military man became the company's autocratic leader of the colony. The author also explains the intrigues and machinations happening in Europe which led to the English takeover of the colony in 1664 without a shot fired and surprisingly under favorable surrender terms. The new English colony was named after the Duke of York, later to become King James.
The Dutch influence continued into modern times with many Dutch street names and towns, even a statue of Stuyvesant. A short but important part. Reflecting the Dutch history of tolerance of religion and ethnic peoples New York City is known as a cultural melting pot.
A must read for those interested in the full history of the American colonies, not just New England and Virginia.
Well, this very interesting and often entertaining history supported by much new research and discovered documents revealed an entirely more robust and true history. The then Dutch colony of New Netherland in America encompassed current upstate New York, New Jersey, half of Connecticut, Delaware and portions of Pennsylvania. Henry Hudson discovered New York on behalf of the Netherland. The Dutch then settled the colony as a business venture in the fur trade by the Dutch West India Company between 1641 and 1664. The author describes the Dutch culture of tolerance and business mindset. Stuyvesant, a military man became the company's autocratic leader of the colony. The author also explains the intrigues and machinations happening in Europe which led to the English takeover of the colony in 1664 without a shot fired and surprisingly under favorable surrender terms. The new English colony was named after the Duke of York, later to become King James.
The Dutch influence continued into modern times with many Dutch street names and towns, even a statue of Stuyvesant. A short but important part. Reflecting the Dutch history of tolerance of religion and ethnic peoples New York City is known as a cultural melting pot.
A must read for those interested in the full history of the American colonies, not just New England and Virginia.
October 2, 2023
Great story about the Dutch history of colonizing America which, at least for me, was completely non-existent in school. I enjoyed the argument that the Dutch laid the cultural foundation for tolerance and commerce at the heart of New York city. Lots of interesting factoids if you're into NYC and history.
February 15, 2023
I didn't know much about "New Amsterdam" so this was such a fascinating history! Warning to friends that I'm going to be spouting off NYC fun facts for the foreseeable future. Like did you know Brooklyn and the Bronx are both of Dutch origin (Breukelen and Jonas Bronck), and Wall Street used to be a real wall the Dutch built to try to keep out the invading English??
May 4, 2024
The Dutch settlement that would become New York is somewhat forgotten and should be remembered. That's it in a nutshell. Along the way we meet some fascinating people. It's a good read. Highly recommended to those interested in early European history pertaining to colonization of North America. Not especially recommended to those who think that that sounds like a snorefest.
September 3, 2018
Russell Shorto schreef dit boek met een duidelijke missie: hij wil het beeld bijstellen dat de Amerikanen hebben over de stichting van hun land. De geschiedenis wordt geschreven door de overwinnaars, dus wordt doorgaans door een Engelse bril naar die periode gekeken. De rol die de Nederlanders daarbij speelden, wordt daardoor zwaar onderkend en dat wil Shorto corrigeren.
Daarvoor doet hij een beroep op vele handgeschreven bronnen uit die tijd, maar dit streven naar historische authenticiteit staat (gelukkig voor ons als lezer) een goed verhaal niet in de weg. Naar veel dingen hebben we uiteindelijk het raden en dan laat de schrijver zijn verbeelding en inlevingsvermogen spreken. Nogal wat passages in dit boek lijken hierdoor eerder uit een historische roman te komen dan uit non-fictie. Leuk voor het leesplezier!
De erfenis van de Nederlanders vind je terug in de taal, in plaatsnamen, in vele familienamen, in Santa Claus, enzovoort…. Maar wat Shorto de allerbelangrijkste erfenis van die vroege Nederlandse periode vindt is de Amerikaanse traditie van openheid en tolerantie, wat hij in zijn boek scherp contrasteert met de bekrompen rechtlijnigheid van de latere puriteinse Engelse stichters van het land. Ook bekeken vanuit de huidige politieke actualiteit is dat een interessant gegeven.
Enige minpuntje is dat Shorto soms kort de bocht gaat als het over de geschiedenis van de Lage Landen zelf gaat, meer bepaald over de rol van de zuidelijke Nederlanden. Voor enkele terechte opmerkingen hierover verwijs ik graag naar de review die Katti plaatste bij de oorspronkelijke, Engelstalige versie van dit boek.
Daarvoor doet hij een beroep op vele handgeschreven bronnen uit die tijd, maar dit streven naar historische authenticiteit staat (gelukkig voor ons als lezer) een goed verhaal niet in de weg. Naar veel dingen hebben we uiteindelijk het raden en dan laat de schrijver zijn verbeelding en inlevingsvermogen spreken. Nogal wat passages in dit boek lijken hierdoor eerder uit een historische roman te komen dan uit non-fictie. Leuk voor het leesplezier!
De erfenis van de Nederlanders vind je terug in de taal, in plaatsnamen, in vele familienamen, in Santa Claus, enzovoort…. Maar wat Shorto de allerbelangrijkste erfenis van die vroege Nederlandse periode vindt is de Amerikaanse traditie van openheid en tolerantie, wat hij in zijn boek scherp contrasteert met de bekrompen rechtlijnigheid van de latere puriteinse Engelse stichters van het land. Ook bekeken vanuit de huidige politieke actualiteit is dat een interessant gegeven.
Enige minpuntje is dat Shorto soms kort de bocht gaat als het over de geschiedenis van de Lage Landen zelf gaat, meer bepaald over de rol van de zuidelijke Nederlanden. Voor enkele terechte opmerkingen hierover verwijs ik graag naar de review die Katti plaatste bij de oorspronkelijke, Engelstalige versie van dit boek.
December 19, 2011
Someone needs to define "socal history" for Mr Shorto. Laying out the politics and governmental bickering of colonial Holland is interesting from a certain perspective, but I was promised an untold history of daily life early New York life, not the meeting schedule of early city governement. The subject matter might have worked better in the hands of a more capable author, but he does a shoddy job of sketching out the personailities of the men he lingers on, reliing on cliche and repetition to outline who these people were supposed to be. Also, his best attempt of conjuring up 17th century Dutch scenes is to say people looked like they were from a Rembrant. Thaat's a trick you can pull off once, not every time you try to describe a crowd. He's also overemanmored with using the word "would." As in: 'This would be very important later,' 'He would be one of the most important men in the colony,' 'New Amsterdam would be the model for the US.' Terrible forshadowing to cover up for bad pacing. Avoid, unless you're more interested in politics and not picky about style.
January 17, 2013
Russell Shorto has written a dense, but mostly readable and utterly fascinating history of Manhattan and Dutch history in the 17th century based heavily on colonial New Netherlands documents which remained untranslated (and mostly overlooked by historians) until recent decades, in a translation project that is ongoing.
Thanks to Shorto for an illuminating portrait of Adriaen van der Donck (among others) and van der Donck's era in both Europe and America. His writing sheds light on the special contribution these early seeds of history made to the particulars of both the future United States and New York City itself.
Is this a perfect book in every way? Well, no, I did at times feel Shorto kept a little too strictly to his thesis --I would have liked more mention of colonial Rhode Island, for example. Still, don't allow whatever mild criticisms might be flung at ISLAND AT THE CENTER OF THE WORLD to deter you from a valuable reading experience.
And, praise be for the maps and the photos!
April 2, 2021
Remarkable achievement. It takes a great narrator to open up this almost forgotten episode of history in such an engaging way. Apart from reappraising the Dutch colony that was New Netherlands, the book's true merit lies in the conclusion that its political and cultural inheritance has influenced America till this day.
February 12, 2011
A history of Dutch New York (New Amsterdam) ... that is fascinating as well as beautifully written ... with information and humor ... A great book about a little-known aspect of history ... I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
April 21, 2012
Amazing story of how the Dutch history of New York developed, and how it came to light to the modern world. How the boom came to exist gives me goosebumps, but then again, I'm a history guy.
March 12, 2016
You have no idea how hard it is for me to spell this title “correctly” (with the American spelling of centre). I have the forbearance of a saint, I swear.
The Island at the Center of the World is about the Dutch colony on Manhattan Island—New Amsterdam and its ancillary towns that would eventually be surrendered to the English and metamorphose into New York and New York state. Russell Shorto wants to bring to light the extensive new work being done on records from that period. For the past thirty years, a specialist in that period has been laboriously translating hitherto untranslated documents that help shed light on the character of the colony. This is revising historians’ opinions of New Amsterdam. Shorto essentially takes the position that history is written by the victors, and the victors being English in this case meant they had no shortage of bad things to say about the Dutch. So they downplayed the Dutch origins of Manhattan and New York, choosing instead to present a narrative of the United States springing forth from thirteen English colonies.
For Shorto, this is all about tracing the development of the colony and highlighting how the Netherlands’ colonial efforts differed so much from other European powers at the time. Whereas England, France, and Spain were all focused on claiming new land through settlement, the Dutch tended to stick with military outposts that enforced their monopoly on critical trade goods. I had never thought of it this way before, but it’s an important difference, and it makes New Amsterdam stand out as one of the few examples of true colonization/settlement from the Dutch. (It also helps explain why, while the Netherlands had outposts flung across the world, the Dutch language itself has not spread far and wide like English did.) So while this is a history of Manhattan, it’s also a history of seventeenth-century European power struggles, but told from a very different perspective than you might otherwise experience. I liked that aspect.
I haven’t read much in the way of colonial histories, so it’s difficult for me to compare this book to others like it. I appreciate how Shorto explores the nuanced relationship between Indigenous peoples in the area and the Dutch settlers. He is careful to point out the stereotypes in our present-day culture, and then he also goes on to explain how the relationship was different from the one that would develop in the late eighteenth, early nineteenth centuries. He explains how the Indigenous peoples seemed to view the land purchases made by the Europeans (or at least, he tries to given the evidence we have available to us), and how from a certain perspective, the Indigenous peoples could be seen as having the upper hand in those deals (i.e., they “sold” the land in return for a presumptive alliance between their tribe and the Dutch, notwithstanding the Dutch not necessarily understanding or caring enough to uphold this end of the deal).
I originally wanted to read this book—I think; it’s been a while since it made it to my to-read list—because I was curious about Manhattan the island. It’s just so crazy to think of New York, today a bustling metropolis carpeted by steel girders and people, as wilderness. Yet it was, four hundred years ago. And we changed that. It wasn’t a natural process that transformed forests into parking lots and shopping malls. This is a very potent reminder of the way human beings are reshaping our planet.
On a related note, The Island at the Center of the World is aptly-titled, because Shorto reminds us of how geography plays a significant role in shaping our society and history. I don’t subscribe overly much to hardcore, Guns, Germs, and Steel–style geographic determinism, but geography certainly has influence. Even discarding the fixation with finding a passage to China through the Americas, the harbour and river system around Manhattan was one of the premiere entrances into the continent. For an economy that relied so extensively on shipping, this was all-important. It’s no wonder, then, that even when it was under Dutch control, New Amsterdam was a hub for shipping English goods from Virginia and New England across the Atlantic. Centre of the world indeed!
Shorto looks at the colony’s history through a biographical framework, focusing on some of the important movers and shakers of the time. There are some great aspects to this approach. He emphasizes the way that the wild, untamed American continent seemed to affect people who settled there. Even though Peter Stuyvesant and Adriaen Van der Donck were ultimately on the opposite side of a lot of issues, both petitioned to be allowed to return to the colony and there live out their days. Shorto adequately portrays the romanticism of the period. Actually, he might portray it overly much.
I read the Large Print edition of this book purely because it was the only copy available from my library, and libraries are rad. I thought the larger type would be a boon—it’ll make reading this non-fiction book a breeze! Counter-intuitively, it took me longer to work my way through the book. The font is larger, yes, but the typeface is so plain it’s almost ugly; the margins are skinnier … the design of the book, in general, is just minimalist and underwhelming. You don’t realize how important these elements are until they are taken away.
So I plodded through it, and I started losing patience. Shorto goes into so much detail, examines every little nuance and development. In particular, he feels it’s necessary to explore the background of every bit player. To some extent this is useful and interesting. Taken altogether, however, and the effect becomes amplified and loses some of its power. I just feel like there might have been a way to tell this story in a slightly more concise, punchier fashion.
I guess that’s what the movie treatment is for, right?
Do you like the confluence of geography and history? Do you want to learn more about that Dutch colony that has not-so-secretly influenced American culture, even if American myth does not want to admit it? If so, The Island at the Center of the World is your cup of tea. For all its flaws stylistically, it’s a solid, slightly academic read about a subject that perhaps needs more publicity. It’s not necessarily going to awaken those interests in you anew, but it will speak to them and provide you with more background on an important part of North American history.
The Island at the Center of the World is about the Dutch colony on Manhattan Island—New Amsterdam and its ancillary towns that would eventually be surrendered to the English and metamorphose into New York and New York state. Russell Shorto wants to bring to light the extensive new work being done on records from that period. For the past thirty years, a specialist in that period has been laboriously translating hitherto untranslated documents that help shed light on the character of the colony. This is revising historians’ opinions of New Amsterdam. Shorto essentially takes the position that history is written by the victors, and the victors being English in this case meant they had no shortage of bad things to say about the Dutch. So they downplayed the Dutch origins of Manhattan and New York, choosing instead to present a narrative of the United States springing forth from thirteen English colonies.
For Shorto, this is all about tracing the development of the colony and highlighting how the Netherlands’ colonial efforts differed so much from other European powers at the time. Whereas England, France, and Spain were all focused on claiming new land through settlement, the Dutch tended to stick with military outposts that enforced their monopoly on critical trade goods. I had never thought of it this way before, but it’s an important difference, and it makes New Amsterdam stand out as one of the few examples of true colonization/settlement from the Dutch. (It also helps explain why, while the Netherlands had outposts flung across the world, the Dutch language itself has not spread far and wide like English did.) So while this is a history of Manhattan, it’s also a history of seventeenth-century European power struggles, but told from a very different perspective than you might otherwise experience. I liked that aspect.
I haven’t read much in the way of colonial histories, so it’s difficult for me to compare this book to others like it. I appreciate how Shorto explores the nuanced relationship between Indigenous peoples in the area and the Dutch settlers. He is careful to point out the stereotypes in our present-day culture, and then he also goes on to explain how the relationship was different from the one that would develop in the late eighteenth, early nineteenth centuries. He explains how the Indigenous peoples seemed to view the land purchases made by the Europeans (or at least, he tries to given the evidence we have available to us), and how from a certain perspective, the Indigenous peoples could be seen as having the upper hand in those deals (i.e., they “sold” the land in return for a presumptive alliance between their tribe and the Dutch, notwithstanding the Dutch not necessarily understanding or caring enough to uphold this end of the deal).
I originally wanted to read this book—I think; it’s been a while since it made it to my to-read list—because I was curious about Manhattan the island. It’s just so crazy to think of New York, today a bustling metropolis carpeted by steel girders and people, as wilderness. Yet it was, four hundred years ago. And we changed that. It wasn’t a natural process that transformed forests into parking lots and shopping malls. This is a very potent reminder of the way human beings are reshaping our planet.
On a related note, The Island at the Center of the World is aptly-titled, because Shorto reminds us of how geography plays a significant role in shaping our society and history. I don’t subscribe overly much to hardcore, Guns, Germs, and Steel–style geographic determinism, but geography certainly has influence. Even discarding the fixation with finding a passage to China through the Americas, the harbour and river system around Manhattan was one of the premiere entrances into the continent. For an economy that relied so extensively on shipping, this was all-important. It’s no wonder, then, that even when it was under Dutch control, New Amsterdam was a hub for shipping English goods from Virginia and New England across the Atlantic. Centre of the world indeed!
Shorto looks at the colony’s history through a biographical framework, focusing on some of the important movers and shakers of the time. There are some great aspects to this approach. He emphasizes the way that the wild, untamed American continent seemed to affect people who settled there. Even though Peter Stuyvesant and Adriaen Van der Donck were ultimately on the opposite side of a lot of issues, both petitioned to be allowed to return to the colony and there live out their days. Shorto adequately portrays the romanticism of the period. Actually, he might portray it overly much.
I read the Large Print edition of this book purely because it was the only copy available from my library, and libraries are rad. I thought the larger type would be a boon—it’ll make reading this non-fiction book a breeze! Counter-intuitively, it took me longer to work my way through the book. The font is larger, yes, but the typeface is so plain it’s almost ugly; the margins are skinnier … the design of the book, in general, is just minimalist and underwhelming. You don’t realize how important these elements are until they are taken away.
So I plodded through it, and I started losing patience. Shorto goes into so much detail, examines every little nuance and development. In particular, he feels it’s necessary to explore the background of every bit player. To some extent this is useful and interesting. Taken altogether, however, and the effect becomes amplified and loses some of its power. I just feel like there might have been a way to tell this story in a slightly more concise, punchier fashion.
I guess that’s what the movie treatment is for, right?
Do you like the confluence of geography and history? Do you want to learn more about that Dutch colony that has not-so-secretly influenced American culture, even if American myth does not want to admit it? If so, The Island at the Center of the World is your cup of tea. For all its flaws stylistically, it’s a solid, slightly academic read about a subject that perhaps needs more publicity. It’s not necessarily going to awaken those interests in you anew, but it will speak to them and provide you with more background on an important part of North American history.
February 3, 2025
this desperately needed to be a biography of adriaen van der donck - he’s the only element of this that russell seems to have sufficient sources on. a metahistory of how the new netherlands project’s translations can be pieced into a narrative could have been fascinating as well. instead, he set out to write a social history of the colony as a whole. heres the thing. social history necessarily includes women. and gratuitously mentioning prostitutes existing as a way to contrast liberal dutch new york with its puritan neighbors doesnt count. even with a better focus, i wouldnt have liked it, because russells writing style is, to put it academically, ass. its so flowery that it feels fictional, and littered with speculations of what “probably” happened or “perhaps” was running through someones head. i lost track of the times i thought “he doesnt have a source for this”. he also spontaneously hops around the timeline without finishing thoughts, as if a vague sweeping statement that the man in question will be important later is sufficient. its such an interesting topic, and the direct quotes from translated documents were fascinating but not used frequently enough. i feel like everything i learned was in spite of the author.
November 27, 2018
I really wanted to enjoy this book. I thought I would enjoy learning about the history of Dutch Manhattan. But I just didn't. I really slogged through this book. I had trouble keeping the players & events straight. But I did enjoy the main theme of the book that the Dutch did have an effect on the shaping of the culture of America, though they are largely ignored in colonial history in favor of the British.
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