In 1674, the Amsterdam publisher Jan Claesz ten Hoorn printed a new schoolbook, the Nieuwe Spiegel der Jeugd , of Franse Tiranny (New Mirror of Youth, or French Tyranny). The work, based on a chronicle of the recent ‘Disaster Year’ (1672), during which the Dutch Republic was invaded and nearly overrun by a French-led coalition, provided a concise but highly graphic and violent history of these turbulent events for the Dutch youth. The Nieuwe Spiegel became a run-away success, and was one of the most popular Dutch schoolbooks of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the production, content, circulation, use and legacy of the Nieuwe Spiegel , and situates the book in the broader context of the political, literary and pedagogical culture of the Dutch Republic. Based on a detailed bibliographical reconstruction, this article also includes an appendix listing the fifty-two editions that appeared between 1674 and 1780.