A superb panorama of politics and war that brings together two classic volumes by Geyl: The Revolt of the Netherlands 1555-1609 and The Netherlands in the Seventeenth Century 1609-1648. Here is the story of the Netherlanders' epic struggle against Spain's might and the rise of the Dutch Republic--as well as important and still pressing issues about the relationship between religion and political action, complex questions of national identity, and the problems of a small country struggling to survive in a great-power world.