Rated The Circle 6/10
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Rated Amsterdam: geschiedenis van de meest vrijzinnige stad ter wereld 6/10
No shocking new information for those familiar with Amsterdams history here but Shorto is a skilled writer and effortlessy weaves the stories of some of Amsterdams defining characters into the city's history and that of the modern world. His enthusiasm for his 'adoption city' is charming and makes this book an easy read but it also seems to inform a lot of his rather bold claims about the city's role in the defining of liberalism as the world knows it today. Interesting approach nonetheless, though somewhat overstretched at times.
Rated Blacks in the Dutch World: The Evolution of Racial Imagery in a Modern 6/10
Impressive survey of the ambiguous ways black people have been portrayed in Dutch painting, literature and religious discourse over the centuries. Blakely shows how current bias towards black people in the Netherlands has a long history, grounded in the formation of one of Europe's first modern states and its empire.
Rated Sprekend ik: Eenentwintig vertellingen 6/10
Rated Tales of Falling and Flying 10/10
With deceptively plain language and within just a few pages a story, Loory paints little universes in which a little magic and imagination overrule everyday reality. Easy to read, hard to forget.