"The Revolt of the Netherlands 1555-1609" is the first volume in authors magnificent - but sadly incomplete - history of the Dutch speaking peoples. In this superb panorama of politics and war, Geyl tells the epic story of the Netherlands heroic struggle against the might of Spain, and of the rise and the establishment of the Dutch Republic. As such it remains the definite account of one of the central episodes in early modern European history. But it also addresses issues which remain alive and important today: the relation between religious beliefs and political action, the complex questions of national identity, and the problems be setting a small country struggling to survive in a great power world. Above all, it is suffused by the author's abiding believe in the vitality of European civilization.
