My mom, grandma, and uncle are going to the Netherlands next month (mom grandma is first generation American and she has never been) and since I can't go with them, I'm reading this as a proxy for it.
I'm not the biggest reader of history books but this is super interesting. Shorto does a great job balancing academic sections, following notable citizens or historical figures as emblematic or metaphors for their era, and illustrating how the developments in Amsterdam had huge repercussions all around the world and decades or centuries down the road.
Plus, there are all sorts of cool little stories. Like the king of Spain was hiding his plan to attack the Netherlands from Willem of Orange (the founder of the Netherlands) but the king of France told him all about the plan because he went hunting with Willem of Orange and thought he was a cool guy.