The subtitle “How England Plundered Holland’s Glory” is also over the top, and not really justified by the content of the book. While the extent of the dutch connection might be forgotten, I’m not sure anyone really believes William’s propaganda as fact. I did have a few other issues with the book, the tone suggests a groundbreaking change in how we should view the Glorious Revolution but the actual content is much more grounded. The detail is fascinating, if often overwhelming, occasionally repetitive and sometimes over-reliant on the aforementioned Huygens family (and on Robert Hooke, who Jardine had also written a biography of). Jardine goes through each aspect of this shared culture in detail – letters and collaboration between scientists, taste in artwork, styles of landscaping gardening, and the roles of prominent families like the Huygens family. He was easily assimilated however, because of a long recent history of shared culture between the two nations. William brought tens of thousands of men, his personal guard patrolled the streets of London. Lisa Jardine argues in Going Dutch that William’s Glorious Revolution was more of a hostile military occupation than the standard portrayal. In the 17th century however, there was a huge crossover of ideas and culture – eventually culminating in William of Orange taking the British throne. If you’ve ever (as an english speaker) listened to someone speaking dutch, you might be surprised to find much common links between the two countries.
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