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The Invention of Amsterdam: A History of Europe’s Greatest City in Ten Walks
An essential guide to one of the world’s most remarkable, and often misunderstood, cities by the author of Why the Dutch Are Different.
When Ben Coates injures his leg and needs to rebuild his strength by walking, he finds himself presented with an exciting to rediscover the city he has been working in for over a decade, at a slower pace. He devises ten walks, each demonstrating a different chapter of Amsterdam’s history, from its humble beginnings in the early 1200s as a small fishing community through two Golden Ages, fuelled by the growth of the Dutch colonial empire, two world wars, and countless reinventions.
Join Coates as he meanders past beautiful townhouses and glittering canals, dances at Pride celebrations, witnesses the King’s apology at Keti Koti, attends a WW2 memorial, gets high at a coffee shop, walks through the red-light district, and gazes in awe at Rembrandt paintings, all the while illuminating modern Amsterdam by explaining its past.
Blending travelogue and quirky history, The Invention of Amsterdam is an entertaining and sharply observed portrait of a fascinating and complicated city.
When Ben Coates injures his leg and needs to rebuild his strength by walking, he finds himself presented with an exciting to rediscover the city he has been working in for over a decade, at a slower pace. He devises ten walks, each demonstrating a different chapter of Amsterdam’s history, from its humble beginnings in the early 1200s as a small fishing community through two Golden Ages, fuelled by the growth of the Dutch colonial empire, two world wars, and countless reinventions.
Join Coates as he meanders past beautiful townhouses and glittering canals, dances at Pride celebrations, witnesses the King’s apology at Keti Koti, attends a WW2 memorial, gets high at a coffee shop, walks through the red-light district, and gazes in awe at Rembrandt paintings, all the while illuminating modern Amsterdam by explaining its past.
Blending travelogue and quirky history, The Invention of Amsterdam is an entertaining and sharply observed portrait of a fascinating and complicated city.
347 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 13, 2025
35 people are currently reading
262 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 11, 2025
I loved this history of Amsterdam, one of my favourite cities in the world. I'm familiar with many of the sights he talks about on his walks but did not know the full history of many of them. This book covers the history of Amsterdam from the 1200's to the present using the present day city. Combining 2 of my favourite genres; history and travel guide
As an expat/lovepat/immigrant/international, Ben Coates has a great insight into the Dutch character which informs much of this book. He clearly loves Amsterdam and the dutch people but is able to articulate their quirks very well.
My only quibble is the accompanying maps are quite bad. Sites show up in 2 places, some don't correspond to the route order and some are not mentioned in the text.
As an expat/lovepat/immigrant/international, Ben Coates has a great insight into the Dutch character which informs much of this book. He clearly loves Amsterdam and the dutch people but is able to articulate their quirks very well.
My only quibble is the accompanying maps are quite bad. Sites show up in 2 places, some don't correspond to the route order and some are not mentioned in the text.
September 14, 2025
fabulous lil book about the most amazing city on earth. can feel ben coates’ visceral love for amsterdam (which i can empathise with). god i miss it.
November 20, 2025
Brilliant travelogue/history that was both witty and informative. I read his earlier work _Why the Dutch Are Different_ covering the entire Netherlands so was excited to read this one from 2025 focusing on Amsterdam. The book was arranged around the idea author Ben Coates was doing a walking tour of Amsterdam as part of his physical therapy and along the way discuss the culture and history of the city. Though sometimes the chapters would stray from the chosen historical topic (such as say noting a location that appeared in a James Bond film), for the most part each chapter dealt with one historical period of Amsterdam after another from the city’s founding to very recent events.
Chapter one discussed the Old City Centre, the origins of Amsterdam, medieval trade, the Iconoclastic or Iconoclasm fury of the 16th century (Protestant destruction of Catholic church décor and religious images), the Alteration or Alteratie (the 1578 replacement of a Catholic government by a Protestant one), and my favorite thing, In’t Aepjen, a monkey-themed bar (translates to “In the Monkeys”) and is one of the city’s oldest pubs, its name stemming from a legend that sailors would settle bar tabs with monkeys they brought from overseas.
Chapter two was on the Dutch golden age of trade particularly the spice trade, historic Dutch warehouses, discussed how the Dutch ventured forth not for territorial conquest or missionary zeal but for commerce, Cornelius de Houtman (1565-1599; leader of first Dutch expedition to the East Indies and began the Dutch spice trade), Petrus Plancius (1552-1622; an important Dutch cartographer), one of the last windmills in Amsterdam, and the historic Saint Peter’s House.
Chapter three discussed Amsterdam’s canals in depth, the historic Jordaan neighborhood with its Rembrandt connections and historic Westerkerk church (just on the edge of the Jordaan).
Chapter four had a lot more on Dutch trade, the life and art of Rembrandt most especially the story of his _The Night Watch_ from 1642, one the most famous if not the most famous Dutch Golden Age painting, and the Amstel River.
Chapter five had a lot on the Dutch slave trade, Multatuli (real name Edward Douwes Decker, 1820-1887, his satirical novel _Max Havelaar_ was an anti-colonialism book on the Dutch East Indies or Indonesia), the decline in frugal Dutch merchant lords as they became replaced by status conscious rentier class, the French occupation of the Netherlands and rule by Louis Bonaparte (Napoleon’s brother) and his legacies including the foundations of the Dutch legal code and the Rijksmuseum.
Chapter six was the second Dutch Golden Age, Vondelpark, the Dutch hosting the Summer Olympics in 1928, Olympic Stadium, Van Gogh’s time here as well as the Van Gogh Museum, and a lot on Heineken including a factory tour.
Chapter seven was on the Jewish influences of Amsterdam including linguistically, a tour of historic Jewish buildings, quite a lot on Anne Frank, the Anne Frank House, her legacy, Otto Frank (her father, who survived the war and got her diary published), as well as a look at Amsterdam in World War II including the Holocaust, collaboration, the February 1941 protest strike, and the hunger winter of 1944-1945.
Chapter eight looked at the IJ (pronounced “Eye”) River, the famous blue and white free ferries that cross it, the IJ Film Museum, the Street Art Museum, and the story of public housing and the ship building industry in North Amsterdam.
Chapter nine looked at drugs, prostitution, and tourism in Amsterdam, how all became so important to the city, the dark side of these such as the rise of human trafficking in the Red Light District and how Amsterdam attracts drug suppliers from around the world that are very much criminal through legal loopholes in Amsterdam, how the city is trying to limit tourism now and phase out the Red Light District, and how Amsterdam handled Covid. The author discussed and visited the famous "coffee shops" that sell marijuana, discussed their legality, and noted if you want actual coffee you went to a cafe.
The conclusion had among other things (I don’t think it was in chapter nine) the El Al Flight 1862 crash in 1992 and what the crash revealed about social inequality in Amsterdam when it crashed into the Bijlmermeer neighborhood.
Pacing was great, loved the witty asides and occasional one or two sentence notes of such things as the role played in financing the Louisiana Purchase or a building with a connection to Brad Pitt (_Ocean's Twelve_ was partially filmed in Amsterdam).
Chapter one discussed the Old City Centre, the origins of Amsterdam, medieval trade, the Iconoclastic or Iconoclasm fury of the 16th century (Protestant destruction of Catholic church décor and religious images), the Alteration or Alteratie (the 1578 replacement of a Catholic government by a Protestant one), and my favorite thing, In’t Aepjen, a monkey-themed bar (translates to “In the Monkeys”) and is one of the city’s oldest pubs, its name stemming from a legend that sailors would settle bar tabs with monkeys they brought from overseas.
Chapter two was on the Dutch golden age of trade particularly the spice trade, historic Dutch warehouses, discussed how the Dutch ventured forth not for territorial conquest or missionary zeal but for commerce, Cornelius de Houtman (1565-1599; leader of first Dutch expedition to the East Indies and began the Dutch spice trade), Petrus Plancius (1552-1622; an important Dutch cartographer), one of the last windmills in Amsterdam, and the historic Saint Peter’s House.
Chapter three discussed Amsterdam’s canals in depth, the historic Jordaan neighborhood with its Rembrandt connections and historic Westerkerk church (just on the edge of the Jordaan).
Chapter four had a lot more on Dutch trade, the life and art of Rembrandt most especially the story of his _The Night Watch_ from 1642, one the most famous if not the most famous Dutch Golden Age painting, and the Amstel River.
Chapter five had a lot on the Dutch slave trade, Multatuli (real name Edward Douwes Decker, 1820-1887, his satirical novel _Max Havelaar_ was an anti-colonialism book on the Dutch East Indies or Indonesia), the decline in frugal Dutch merchant lords as they became replaced by status conscious rentier class, the French occupation of the Netherlands and rule by Louis Bonaparte (Napoleon’s brother) and his legacies including the foundations of the Dutch legal code and the Rijksmuseum.
Chapter six was the second Dutch Golden Age, Vondelpark, the Dutch hosting the Summer Olympics in 1928, Olympic Stadium, Van Gogh’s time here as well as the Van Gogh Museum, and a lot on Heineken including a factory tour.
Chapter seven was on the Jewish influences of Amsterdam including linguistically, a tour of historic Jewish buildings, quite a lot on Anne Frank, the Anne Frank House, her legacy, Otto Frank (her father, who survived the war and got her diary published), as well as a look at Amsterdam in World War II including the Holocaust, collaboration, the February 1941 protest strike, and the hunger winter of 1944-1945.
Chapter eight looked at the IJ (pronounced “Eye”) River, the famous blue and white free ferries that cross it, the IJ Film Museum, the Street Art Museum, and the story of public housing and the ship building industry in North Amsterdam.
Chapter nine looked at drugs, prostitution, and tourism in Amsterdam, how all became so important to the city, the dark side of these such as the rise of human trafficking in the Red Light District and how Amsterdam attracts drug suppliers from around the world that are very much criminal through legal loopholes in Amsterdam, how the city is trying to limit tourism now and phase out the Red Light District, and how Amsterdam handled Covid. The author discussed and visited the famous "coffee shops" that sell marijuana, discussed their legality, and noted if you want actual coffee you went to a cafe.
The conclusion had among other things (I don’t think it was in chapter nine) the El Al Flight 1862 crash in 1992 and what the crash revealed about social inequality in Amsterdam when it crashed into the Bijlmermeer neighborhood.
Pacing was great, loved the witty asides and occasional one or two sentence notes of such things as the role played in financing the Louisiana Purchase or a building with a connection to Brad Pitt (_Ocean's Twelve_ was partially filmed in Amsterdam).
Want to read
May 14, 2025An essential guide to one of the world’s most remarkable, and often misunderstood, cities by the author of Why the Dutch Are Different.
When Ben Coates injures his leg and needs to rebuild his strength by walking, he finds himself presented with an exciting to rediscover the city he has been working in for over a decade, at a slower pace. He devises ten walks, each demonstrating a different chapter of Amsterdam’s history, from its humble beginnings in the early 1200s as a small fishing community through two Golden Ages, fuelled by the growth of the Dutch colonial empire, two world wars, and countless reinventions.
Join Coates as he meanders past beautiful townhouses and glittering canals, dances at Pride celebrations, witnesses the King’s apology at Keti Koti, attends a WW2 memorial, gets high at a coffee shop, walks through the red-light district, and gazes in awe at Rembrandt paintings, all the while illuminating modern Amsterdam by explaining its past.
Blending travelogue and quirky history, The Invention of Amsterdam is an entertaining and sharply observed portrait of a fascinating and complicated city.
When Ben Coates injures his leg and needs to rebuild his strength by walking, he finds himself presented with an exciting to rediscover the city he has been working in for over a decade, at a slower pace. He devises ten walks, each demonstrating a different chapter of Amsterdam’s history, from its humble beginnings in the early 1200s as a small fishing community through two Golden Ages, fuelled by the growth of the Dutch colonial empire, two world wars, and countless reinventions.
Join Coates as he meanders past beautiful townhouses and glittering canals, dances at Pride celebrations, witnesses the King’s apology at Keti Koti, attends a WW2 memorial, gets high at a coffee shop, walks through the red-light district, and gazes in awe at Rembrandt paintings, all the while illuminating modern Amsterdam by explaining its past.
Blending travelogue and quirky history, The Invention of Amsterdam is an entertaining and sharply observed portrait of a fascinating and complicated city.
August 24, 2025
After reading Why the Dutch are Different and The Rhine, I found myself checking from time to time whether Mr Coates had written something new I could get my hands on. Imagine my delight during a recent trip to the Netherlands when I spotted his name on the “new releases” shelf in a bookshop in Amsterdam (specifically on Sint Antoniesbreestraat). How convenient! My only regret was not having seen it earlier in my trip, as I had only two days left in the city before flying back to Spain, and I wanted to discover all the hidden gems he suggested. This book was so worth it! I love his sense of humour (so similar to mine) and his remarkable gift for storytelling. Ben, if you ever read this comment and find yourself short of ideas, would you consider writing about your home country too?
April 29, 2025
I really enjoyed this book. I have a fascination with Amsterdam and I found the descriptions so vivid, and the love for the city the author has is evident. It was a real joy for me to experience this.
In my opinion, it’s really worth reading this with Google Maps open on a laptop (it took me half an hour to read 10 pages at times because I kept falling down rabbit holes).
Ben Coates is living my dream and I’m envious, but grateful for his writing!
In my opinion, it’s really worth reading this with Google Maps open on a laptop (it took me half an hour to read 10 pages at times because I kept falling down rabbit holes).
Ben Coates is living my dream and I’m envious, but grateful for his writing!
July 18, 2025
A really great read if you will be exploring Amsterdam. The background info and history of many of the seas and sights mentioned in the book add to the experience of visiting them.
October 31, 2025
An excellent collection of stories about Amsterdam. Even after living here for 10 years, I learned many new things.
October 26, 2025
What a feast this book is for someone who loves both travel memoirs and history. Ben Coates has written a travelogue with a difference: it focuses not on a country but on one city – Amsterdam.
In attempting to build up his strength following an accident, Ben plots out ten different routes that include places and people of historical interest along the way. Combining these wonderful ‘did you know?’ accounts with observations on the locals he encounters and reflections on his own experiences, Ben weaves numerous fascinating tales into the history of Amsterdam that had me delighted and intrigued from the first to the last page. I loved the concept of these ten walks through the centre and the outskirts of the Netherlands’ capital, and I was warmed by his affection for both his adoptive country and for Amsterdam in particular.
I’ve lived in the Netherlands for 24 years and have never been a great Amsterdam fan. This book has encouraged me to explore it further and seek out some of the gems he has revealed. Thank you, Ben, for an absorbing and hugely enjoyable read.
In attempting to build up his strength following an accident, Ben plots out ten different routes that include places and people of historical interest along the way. Combining these wonderful ‘did you know?’ accounts with observations on the locals he encounters and reflections on his own experiences, Ben weaves numerous fascinating tales into the history of Amsterdam that had me delighted and intrigued from the first to the last page. I loved the concept of these ten walks through the centre and the outskirts of the Netherlands’ capital, and I was warmed by his affection for both his adoptive country and for Amsterdam in particular.
I’ve lived in the Netherlands for 24 years and have never been a great Amsterdam fan. This book has encouraged me to explore it further and seek out some of the gems he has revealed. Thank you, Ben, for an absorbing and hugely enjoyable read.
May 4, 2025
Really enjoyable account of one of my favourite cities arranged as ten walks. Made me want to go back to Amsterdam for a 4th visit to explore bits I haven’t seen yet.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews