Amsterdam: A History of the World's Most Liberal City
Categories: History
Amsterdam: A History of the World's Most Liberal City (2013) is a book by Russell Shorto. Shorto traces Amsterdam from its origins in the marshes through the Dutch Golden Age to the present. He argues that the city's habits of tolerance, trade and individual liberty helped invent modern liberalism and help explain its lasting character. Shorto, an American living in Amsterdam, writes as both historian and resident.
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- Fareed Zakaria: “This week's book of the week is "Amsterdam" by Russell Shorto. "If you want to find the origins of Western liberty," says the author of this engaging history, "you'll find it in this small city." Battered by the seas, ravaged by war and revolution, through all these struggles, Amsterdam became the home of individual rights in the West. It was true in 1600. It's even true today. Amsterdam is the place where gay marriage was first legalized and celebrated.”