Scherpdenkers: Geert Mak

Geert Mak

Geert Mak is one of the most acclaimed Dutch non-fiction writers and journalists. With books such as How God Disappeared from Jorwerd , The Century of My Father , In Europe , and The Lives of Jan Six, he brings history and society to life in a compelling and accessible manner. His work is published in more than twenty countries and has been awarded numerous prizes, including the NS Public Prize (twice), the Golden Quill, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Prince Bernhard Culture Fund. He has been named Historian of the Year multiple times, and his work is praised for combining in-depth research with a story that touches everyone.

America, a democracy saved

In Europe, the 1930s have a somber undertone, a period in which fascism and National Socialism increasingly set the tone. We often forget here that exactly the opposite happened in the United States. At the height of the crisis, President Franklin Roosevelt and his team turned against the temptation of dictatorship. They decided to defend democracy with all the means at their disposal: spectacular economic reforms, large-scale poverty reduction, an impressive modernization of the countryside, and, later, a gigantic military effort to liberate Europe and Asia from their oppressors. During those war years, in that same spirit, the foundation was also laid for the United Nations, the beginning of a system of lasting peace. Now, after eighty years, that is all over. That is why Geert Mak is looking back precisely at this time, in search of that rare and inspiring America of the past.