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READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Essential Reading

Item EXNTH52. Buy these 4 items as a set for $75 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

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Eyewitness Guide The Netherlands

Eyewitness Guide The Netherlands

by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 480 PAGES

Gorgeously illustrated and filled with excellent maps, this compact book covers Holland, its history, traditions, cultures and sights. With hundreds of color photographs and illustrations. (NTH71, $26.00)

Insight Guide Belgium

Insight Guide Belgium

by Insight Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 337 PAGES

This beautiful guide features wonderful photographs and essays prepared by experts on Belgium. The emphasis here is on providing an understanding of the country and its culture. (BLG01, $23.95)

The Undutchables

The Undutchables

by Colin White

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 308 PAGES

A laugh-out-loud, irreverent guide to Dutch character and habits, including how to drink coffee and why you shouldn't even think about haggling over prices. (NTH12, $16.00)

Benelux Map

Benelux Map

by Michelin Travel Publications

  • 2010
  • MAP

Covering the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg at a scale of 1:400,000. (NTH03, $11.95)

 
Amsterdam Map

Amsterdam Map


by Borch Maps

  • 2011
  • MAP

A laminated, folded map of the city center, at a scale of 1:11,000. (NTH36, $8.95)

Brussels For Pleasure

Brussels For Pleasure


by Derek Blyth

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 425 PAGES

A favorite guide to exploring Brussels on foot, organized into 13 walks. Blyth is a personable, wonderfully informative guide, and he brings to life the various grand museums, hotels and villas of Brussels. (BLG12, $29.95)

Eyewitness Guide Amsterdam

Eyewitness Guide Amsterdam


by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 312 PAGES

A wonderful guide to Amsterdam, filled with detailed drawings, photographs and thumbnail sketches. Slim and attractive, it also includes detailed maps and cutaway drawings of landmarks. Includes The Hague, Rotterdam and Delft. (NTH01, $25.00)

Eyewitness Guide Brussels, Bruges, Ghent & Antwerp

Eyewitness Guide Brussels, Bruges, Ghent & Antwerp


by Rebecca Miles

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 210 PAGES

This superbly illustrated guide features color photos and maps of city neighborhoods, with information on history, culture and sightseeing. (BLG16, $20.00)

Insight Guide Holland

Insight Guide Holland


by Insight Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 366 PAGES

This beautiful guide features wonderful photographs and essays prepared by experts on Holland's attractions, history and culture. With dozens of excellent color maps. (NTH02, $23.95)

Daily Life in Rembrandt's Holland

Daily Life in Rembrandt's Holland


by Paul Zumthor

  • HISTORY
  • 1994
  • PAPER
  • 353 PAGES

First published in 1959, this richly detailed portrait of Dutch society during the golden age looks at material life of the average citizen including food, housing, holidays, industry, relations between the sexes -- and even toilet habits. (NTH19, $27.95)

In Europe, Travels Through the Twentieth Century

In Europe, Travels Through the Twentieth Century


by Geert Mak

  • HISTORY
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 896 PAGES

Don't be put off by the heft of Mak's eye-opening account of Europe on the brink of the millennium. The chapters originally appeared on the front page of a Dutch newspaper, and his deft reports from disparate locales are light in touch, bridging history, travel and opinion. (EUR254, $21.00)

Insight Compact Guide Belgium

Insight Compact Guide Belgium


by Insight Guides | Margarete Graf

  • HISTORY
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 96 PAGES

A practical, portable guide to Belgium. Organized geographically, this compact guide features color photographs, maps, concise essays on history and culture, and a brief overview of attractions. (BLG11, $8.95)

King Leopold's Ghost, A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa

King Leopold's Ghost, A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa


by Adam Hochschild

  • HISTORY
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES

An enthralling narrative of the 19th-century colonization of the Belgian Congo, written by an award-winning journalist. The focus of the book is Belgian King Leopold, who oversaw the colonization. (CAF08, $16.95)

The Autumn of the Middle Ages

The Autumn of the Middle Ages


by Johan Huizinga

  • HISTORY
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 467 PAGES

A pioneering work of social and cultural history, this well-translated classic is a richly detailed portrait of life, thought and art in 14th- and 15th-century France and the Netherlands. (EUR17, $30.00)

The Embarrassment of Riches

The Embarrassment of Riches


by Simon Schama

  • HISTORY
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 698 PAGES

An engaging cultural history and much more, this book is a study of the Dutch in the 17th century and their surprising challenge to Spanish rule. (NTH04, $25.00)

The Tulip

The Tulip


by Anna Pavord

  • HISTORY
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 296 PAGES
  • OUT OF PRINT

In Holland, the tulip is not just another flower; it's a national obsession. Pavord traces the history of the magnificent flower through the last few centuries, with stories about how much it was treasured and her own reflections on its beauty. (NTH21, $14.95)

Vermeer's Hat, The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World

Vermeer's Hat, The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World


by Timothy Brook

  • HISTORY
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES

Brook uses the domestic detail in Vermeer's art as a window into the 17th-century Dutch world, a golden age of trade, painting and prosperity. (NTH125, $18.00)

Rembrandt, Master of the Portrait

Rembrandt, Master of the Portrait


by Pascal Bonafoux

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 175 PAGES

With over 200 illustrations, this pocket-size encyclopedia traces the life and career of Rembrandt. It offers insight into his influence on the art of the portrait -- an illuminating companion for any visit to Amsterdam and its museums. (NTH11, $12.95)

The Diary of a Young Girl, The Definitive Edition

The Diary of a Young Girl, The Definitive Edition


by Anne Frank

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 340 PAGES

The classic story of an adolescent Jewish girl's life and thoughts while in hiding with her family in Nazi-occupied Holland. A new edition with added material. (NTH05, $13.00)

Amsterdam, A Traveler's Literary Companion

Amsterdam, A Traveler's Literary Companion


by Manfred Wolf

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 238 PAGES

Organized by district, these 17 contemporary short stories by modern Dutch writers, including Cees Nooteboom and Geert Mak, are set among the canals, cafes and neighborhoods of Amsterdam. (NTH33, $13.95)

Girl in Hyacinth Blue

Girl in Hyacinth Blue


by Susan Vreeland

  • LITERATURE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 150 PAGES

This finely-crafted novel tells the story of the girl in an imagined, undiscovered portrait by Vermeer. Created in the 17th century, the painting passes through a number of people's hands, and following its path provides a series of tales that reflect the history and character of Holland and Europe through the years. (NTH23, $14.00)

Girl With a Pearl Earring

Girl With a Pearl Earring


by Tracy Chevalier

  • LITERATURE
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 233 PAGES

Chevalier's richly drawn novel imagines the story behind Vermeer's mysterious portrait of a turbaned girl with a pearl earring. (NTH25, $15.00)

Niccolo Rising

Niccolo Rising


by Dorothy Dunnett

  • LITERATURE
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 470 PAGES

From the reigning queen of historical fiction comes this fast-paced, thoroughly-researched novel of ambition and worldly goods in 15th-century Bruges. This is the first volume in her House of Niccolo series. (BLG13, $15.95)

More Recommendations

Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.