December 2008

I really enjoyed Thanksgiving: An American Holiday, an American History. This book was exactly what I wanted to read over the Holidays. It's a beautiful, interesting history of the celebration of Thanksgiving and how it became a national holiday in the United States. It is full with interesting facts about the history of Thanksgiving, and does a nice job of explaining all the "first Thanksgiving celebration in the United States" claims out there.

This book was so much better than "Geschiedenis van de VOC" which I read a few months ago.

Gouden Handel was exactly what I was looking for; interesting stories, anecdotes and general information about the VOC. It's nicely written, the author obviously knows his stuff and it's a facinating history of the Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie.

The details on what goods exactly the VOC traded are very interesting -- over time the collected a huge amount of information on what you usage each product had in each of their markets (from Europe, Africa, Middle East through the various countries in the Far East). The author makes a convincing case that this product knowledge helps explain the commercial success of the VOC.