Blom (Netherlands Institute for War Documentation and Dutch history, U. of Amsterdam) and Lamberts (modern history, Leuven U., Belgium) provide the first comprehensive history of the Low Countries translated into English for students and general readers. Historians from the Netherlands and Belgium contribute eight chapters of a chronological history of the two countries, discussing political and economic developments, social relations, cultural similarities and differences, and religion. This edition has been revised and expanded, and a new author wrote the chapter on the Southern Netherlands in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The English translation is a slightly amended version of the original, Geschiedenis van de Nederlanden. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)