SOURCE: “Schama's Golden Age,” in History, Vol. 74, No. 241, June, 1989, pp. 253–55.

In the following review, Wright offers a positive assessment of The Embarrassment of Riches, but takes issue with Schama's geographic explanation of Dutch political organization and lack of attention to marginal segments of Dutch society and provinces beyond Holland.

The welcome publication in paperback of this acclaimed work [The Embarrassment of Riches] initially presents (as did the hardback edition) among the introductory sections of the book, the disturbing image of the beached whale. As many reviewers of the original edition noted at the time, the vase spread of the volume is portentous, its contents rich with unexpected resources. The theme of presumption averted is also much illustrated here, and it is notorious that a few critics, highly qualified in either Dutch or Art History, were conspicuous for their refusal to join the chorus of praise which accompanied the...