'De schoone staat van Nederland'

The Pristine State of the NetherlandsThe main benefit of Van der Woud’s book is its detailed description of the process of physical unification of the new Dutch nation state through the establishment of an infrastructure for traffic, transport and communication. This new infrastructure was accompanied by a radical change in the appearance of the Dutch landscape. Increasingly during the nineteenth century, the ‘authenticity’ and ‘unique character’ of the Dutch landscape came to be valued and respected. Those who supported this ideal of ‘authenticity’ would have been horrified at the establishme... Mehr ...