Review of Welvaart in zwart-wit

K. Schuyt, E. Taverne, S. van Voorst, 1950. Welvaart in zwart-wit 1950: Welvaart in zwart-wit deserves praise for putting the economic and social history of the postwar period of the Netherlands (1948-1973) into wider international frameworks, such as 'Americanization'. The book also offers analysis of fields seldom explored in the traditional historiography, including the postwar planning of town and country, and the role of the arts and sciences in Dutch society. At the same time, the book suffers from a lack of focus that might have given this 600-page book more energy and direction. And although it addresses some of the factors that set postwar Netherlands off from its neighbors, Welvaart fails to explore systematically the particular contours of Dutch culture, as one of its original research mandates dictated. Though the book suffers from these and other weaknesses, Welvaart is a book of real achievement, wide in scope, well-informed and stylishly presented. This review is part of the discussion forum IJkpunt 1950