SOURCE: “From Bogs to Riches,” in New Republic, August 24, 1987, pp. 29–31.

In the following review, Elliott offers a positive assessment of The Embarrassment of Riches, but asserts that Schama's account is at times burdened by excessive detail.

“The Batavian territory,” wrote Lord Macaulay, “conquered from the waves and defended against them by human art, was in extent little superior to the principality of Wales.” One of the great enigmas of European history is how the inhabitants of this minuscule area of waterlogged land succeeded in asserting their independence from the apparently overwhelming power of Spain, and in establishing themselves during the first half of the 17th century as a dominant force on the European scene.

They had, it seemed, broken all the rules. In a monarchical Europe they had apparently managed to create a viable state based on republican institutions. In a world that took it for granted that...