What are the salient facts about the Netherlands? This book tackles the question of Dutch identity through a number of essential themes in the culture, history and society. What is the place of the Queen a modern parliamentary democracy? How did the nation become a byword for welfare state and the -poldermodel ? What explains it success in trade and industry? What is the Randstad? What explains the fabulous political and cultural success of the Dutch Golden Age? Why did tolerance and accommodation turn into such powerful political traditions? What made the Netherlands one of the leading...