De Wadden een geschiedenis

A rather anecdotal, journalistic overview of the history of the Waddenzee and the Dutch islands in it, from the last ice age to the present. A reasonably entertaining read, but I got a little tired with Deen’s strict adherence to the convention that every chapter has to have its own “anchor character”, whose point of view is meant to give us a frame for looking at the events described. Why does everything have to turn into a kind of dramatic reconstruction? Whatever happened to good old-fashioned description?

I enjoyed Deen's occasional touches of irony, and I'm sure I learnt a few new things about the area, which is probably the part of the Netherlands I know least well. So worth reading, and probably a good starting point before show more digging out some more serious books. And whatever other faults he might have, Deen does at least include a decent bibliography, so that should be perfectly possible. It's a shame that the publishers were so mean with the maps (some very small sketch maps in the endpapers) and illustrations (none at all). Deen is a radio journalist by trade, though, so perhaps he doesn't approve of pictures. show less

Poetische geschiedschrijving van de wadden.