What you see is what you get: a short but surprisingly complete history of the Netherlands (and Belgium, since the two countries have had something of a love/hate relationship since the Middle Ages).

The authors did a great job squeezing so many familiar but yet frustratingly vague moments of history in under 50 small pages: the Hanseatic League, Erasmus, the Eighty Years' War, the Pacification of Ghent, the Act of Abjuration, the Peace of Westphalia, the first political parties,... They are all discussed, albeit quickly, and put in the right historical context.

In all, a great little book for everyone that wants to get up to date again with the vital moments in our local history, without spending too much time and effort! ( )