Maarten Prak is Professor Emeritus of Social and Economic History at the Department of History and Art History, Utrecht University. He has published extensively on Dutch social and economic history, the Dutch Golden Age, and is an expert on European craft history. His recent publications include Citizens Without Nations: Urban Citizenship in Europe and the World, c. 1000-1789 (Cambridge, 2018) and the co-edited volume Apprenticeship in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge, 2019). Diane Webb has translated a wide range of literature in the fields of art history and history, including, most recently, Johan Huizinga's Autumntide of the Middle Ages.
'This is simply the best book we have on the Dutch Republic in its Golden Age. For beginners, it offers a comprehensive and engaging introduction to the Republic's many achievements. For advanced readers, it provides insightful interpretations of the often surprising ways in which creativity was paired with constraint and liberty was paired with coercion.' Jan de Vries, University of California, Berkeley 'An indispensable history of that remarkable early modern political formation, the Dutch Republic. This is a magisterial account of the social, political, economic, and cultural circumstances under which it came into being. For its breadth, clarity of exposition and up-to-date responses to current research, I cannot recommend it highly enough.' Claudia Swan, Washington University in St. Louis