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The Burgher and the : Prostitution in Early Modern Amsterdam
Author(s): van de Pol (Author)
- Publisher: ACADEMIC
- Publication Date: 26 May 2011
- Edition: Illustrated
- Language: English
- Print length: 280 pages
- ISBN-10: 019921140X
- ISBN-13: 9780199211401
Book Description
Lotte van de Pol explores how the vice trade was embedded in Amsterdam's society, economy, and judicial system, and how legislation and policing were shaped by misogynist attitudes towards women and fear of God's wrath and venereal diseases towards sex. The story concentrates on the people living at the margins of a rich metropolis, in which there was a large surplus of women, many of them poor immigrants with little prospect of marriage. Many changes are visible in the 150 years under scrutiny, including the view of prostitution from immorality to trade, and of prostitutes from whores and criminals to paupers. The result is a book that can be read as the history of the Dutch Golden Age from below.
Editorial Reviews
Review
Excellent and detailed study...it is the perfect bedside book for the professional - and for the rest of us, too. ―
Petra de Vries, Times Higher EducationVan de Pol's is a story that deserves and will richly reward an attentive audience. ―
Doug Catterall, Sixteenth Century JournalEven so cursory a summary of some of the riches of this work reveals its significance at a European level and one must hope one day for a similar in depth study of the London of Moll Flanders ―
Olwen Hufton, Tijdschrift voor GeschiedenisA rich kaleidoscope of observations on the day-to-day realities of prostitution, which the author presents to the reader with analytical intelligence and without voyeurism... In spite of, or rather because of, its stern objectivity the book is fascinating. ―
Andrew James Johnston, taz, die tageszeitungLotte van de Pol's fascinating description of the prostitution scene of Amsterdam at times reads like a novel. ―
Prof Peter Schuster, DamalA (near) perfect picture of Amsterdam's prostitution... In recent years we got the picture of the The Embarrasment of Riches, but the embarrassment caused by the lack of riches had never before been mapped out in such a systematic and intelligent way. ―
Michael Zeeman, VolkskrantThis book fits seamlessly into an extensive historiography on early modern European prostitution... This is a deeply researched book. ―
James R. Farr, English Historical Review
