Its homes were well-furnished and fanatically clean; its citizens feasted on 100-course banquets and speculated fortunes on new varieties of tulip. Yet, in the midst of plenty, the Dutch were ill at ease. In this brilliantly innovative book--which launched his reputation as one of our most perspicacious and stylish historians--Simon Schama explores the mysterious contradictions of a nation that invented itself from the ground up, attained an unprecedented level of affluence, and lived in dread of being corrupted by its happiness.Drawing on a vast array of period documents and sumptuously reproduced art, Schama re-creates, in precise and loving detail, a nation's mental furniture. He tells of bloody uprisings and beached whales, of the cult of hygiene and the plague of tobacco, of thrifty housewives and profligate tulip-speculators. He tells us how the Dutch celebrated themselves and how they were slandered by their enemies. The Embarrassment of Riches is a book that set a standard for its discipline; it throbs with life on every page.

    The chapters cover early Portuguese settlement, political and economic structures, plantations and slavery, the gold rushes, the impact of colonial rule on Indian societies, imperial reorganization in the eighteenth century, and demographic and economic change during the final decades of the empire.

    His eleven-volume work, written between 1660 and 1669, was first published in 1825. Ever since, this chronicler of his time has held readers' fascination. The essential anthology of selections from Samuel Pepys's famous diary is finally available in paperback. By collecting passages by subject, it provides a fresh look at some of the themes running through Pepys's massive work. Robert and Linnet Latham's lively presentation shows Pepys the man of fashion, the booklover, the musician and theatergoer as well as Pepys the husband and Pepys the public servant. Through descriptions of the everyday and of historic events like the Fire and the Plague, Pepys's life and times are revealed in all their richness and variety. For fans of the Diary, this work offers the opportunity to rediscover favorite passages; for anyone unfamiliar with Pepys, this anthology serves as a delightful introduction.