Words At Large

Eleanor Wachtel talks with distinguished Dutch journalist Geert Mak in the first of a four-part series on the Netherlands

Posted by Kimberly Walsh on January 12 at 12:00 AM

Listen here:

In EuropeWith its humanist inheritance from Erasmus and Spinoza, the Netherlands boasts an ideal society — not to mention a generous welfare state, legalized prostitution and gay marriage, and a tolerance for cannabis trade. But the country is changing, and fast. Writers & Company is taking the measure of those changes in a new four-part series. In this interview, which leads off the series, Eleanor Wachtel talks with Geert Mak, one of the Netherlands’ most prominent writers.

His bestselling books map the shifting political and cultural landscape of the country: the move from rural to urban life, the break with traditional lifestyles and values, and the effects of immigration. He is best known for In Europe: Travels Through the Twentieth Century (Knopf), an insightful account of travelling across Europe in 1999, at the turn of the last millennium.

Eleanor Wachtel spoke to Geert Mak in Amsterdam.

First aired January 11, 2009 on Writers & Company. [runs 52:49]

Writers & Company airs on Thursdays at 11:00 p.m. (11:30 in Newfoundland) and on Sunday afternoons (times vary across the country). You can also listen to the show as a podcast.

Comments

I am so glad for this interview, thank you!!

Geert Mak is an excellent and insightful storyteller of history. I hope that it's possible to translate his fabulous Dutch TV series "In Europa" to English and broadcast it here.

Meanwhile, for Dutch-Canadians I wholeheartedly recommend watching the series "In Europa" on the website www.ineuropa.nl or buying the DVDs. While watching I am translating it on the spot to both my Canadian son and husband, and my son (17) thinks this is the way history has to be told, as it has come alive to him.

Posted by: Ellen Papenburg | January 12, 2009 09:40 PM

Thank you so much for this series and all the other interviews you do. Ihave so much enjoyed these. I have health problems and the program is just a delight to listen to when I'm confined to bed.

Posted by: Dr. Christina J. Johns | January 16, 2009 11:51 AM

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