Amsterdam: A Brief Life of the City

It is always difficult to write a biography of a city, certainly of one with as rich a history as Amsterdam has. But Mak tells a wonderful story of a fascinating city, successfully explaining Amsterdam's modern-day character through centuries-old stories. In this 350-page book, Mak treats each segment of the city's history evenly, spending equal time on its founding, its rise, its stagnation, and its reemergence. But what makes this book such a page-turner is Mak's success at bringing past citizens to life through his recounting of old stories. Mak has clearly done a great deal of research into city and state archives. Through vivid writing, Mak introduces the reader to city founders, prisoners, flower traders, rich merchants, and current politicians. A wonderful read and a terrific introductory piece prior to visiting. An excellent companion book for the traveler is "A Murder in Amsterdam," by Ian Buruma, which recounts how problematic and conflicted Amsterdam's historical liberal and tolerant society has been since 9/11.

I was looking for a book on Amsterdam's history, and had heard of Mak's popularity in the Netherlands, so I decided to give this book a go. I'm very glad I did. The book is a great history - well told, easy to read, and full of little details and anecdotes to bring the story of this city to life.

This is a wonderful book about one of my favourite cities. It is written in a storytelling form by the author who is passionate enough about the city to know how to share it with the reader. My husband and I are not crazy about history books but we "devoured" this one. Couldn't put it down! We are looking forward to reading his other books.