The Shame and the Sorrow

Dutch-Amerindian Encounters in New Netherland (Early American Studies)

By: Donna Merwick

Narrated by: Gloria Mason Martin

The Dutch, through the directors of the West India Company, purchased Manhattan Island in 1625. They had come to the New World as traders, not expecting to assume responsibility as the sovereign possessor of a conquered New Netherland. They did not intend to make war on the native peoples around Manhattan Island, but they did; they did not intend to help destroy native cultures, but they did; they intended to be overseas the tolerant, pluralistic, and antimilitaristic people they thought themselves to be - and in so many respects were - at home, but they were not.

For the Dutch intruders, establishing a settled presence away from the homeland meant the destabilization of the adventurers' values and self-regard. They found that the initially peaceful encounters with the indigenous people soon took on the alarming overtones of an insurgency as the influx of the Dutch led to a complete upheaval and eventual disintegration of the social and political worlds of the natives.

How are the Dutch to be judged? Donna Merwick, in The Shame and the Sorrow, asks this question. She points to a betrayal both of their own values and of the native peoples. She also directs us to the self-delusion of hegemonic control. Her work belongs alongside the best of today's postcolonial studies in the description of cross-cultural violence and subtle questioning of the nature of writing its history.

The book is published by University of Pennsylvania Press.

©2006 University of Pennsylvania Press (P)2019 Redwood Audiobooks

Narrator Quality Matters

The subject matter of this audiobook is very interesting to me which is why I made the purchase. The reason I have given a sub par review is owning wholly to poor quality narration. It sounds like a female computer voice and what’s problematic is the cadence; punctuation matters. Often times it just comes across disjointed and difficult to follow. Super interesting subject matter but the delivery here is abysmal.

A Shame About the Narration

I find this subject fascinating. The author clearly did a deep dive into disparate sources to paint a picture of the early days of American history. However, the choice of the choice the narrator was a huge mistake. Driving a car while listening to this book at 1x speed is clearly hazardous to your health. You'll be asleep in no time.

The mispronunciation of relatively common English words was annoying. The fact that the narrator had no background in the Dutch language was annoying. The monotone that she read the book in was annoying. I love audiobooks because the narrator can give life to languages with which I'm unfamiliar. I will listen to another book by this author. I will never again listen to a book read by this narrator.

Not a mere land grab

This book gave me a different idea on why the Dutch did not establish a colony of large numbers. New Netherlands is described as as settlements facing the ocean for trade rather than facing the interior for large settlement. It also shows that the Dutch were fighting the Spanish for their freedom at home, and how these circumstances were far different from the relatively ruthless English. The nature of Dutch trade, as presented here, meant that the Dutch recognized the Indians as the owners of the land, and then shows how that attitude slowly changed. A welcome relief from the way some histories lump all European encounters as variations of the same tune.

Incomprehensible snooze fest

I bought this book looking for a history of the Dutch settlers in New York and what I instead found was the most unorganized, boring, mishmash of comparisons and time jumps. Not to mention the nails on a chalkboard pain you feel trying to listen to the narrator. If your looking for a history on Dutch expansion into the new world keep looking. You will feel shame and sorrow at the fact you wasted an audible credit.