The Iron Century

Lodewijk Napoleon gave the Netherlands its identity and set up many important institutions. Hans Goedkoop examines the ambitions plans and silent departure of the Netherlands' first king.

The Netherlands under the reign of King Willem I was a period of investments but also of financial troubles. Hans Goedkoop discovers how one rich and influential widow, Johanna Borski, kept the country from going bankrupt.

In the 19th century, the class society was still a major fact, yet pioneers of equal opportunities dreamed of a better society and some took action. With royal assent, private Dutch initiative bought cheap land in Drenthe province to establish vagrant colonies, where lower class dropouts got another chance. Initially it was all hopeful, optimistic and liberal for its time, but soon the project got into trouble as funds ran out, many of the (in)voluntary recruits -often dumped opportunistically from cities- failed to live up to expectations and a paternalistic regime

The story of W.A. Scholten and how he turned his potato flour factory in the province of Groningen into the Netherlands' first industrial multinational company.

In a time when women are not permitted to work for money and are expected to obey their husbands and stay at home, Betsy Perk stands up for women's rights. Hans Goedkoop chronicles the life of this remarkable woman and her ideals.

Hans Goedkoop investigates the developments of the Rotterdam harbor in the 19th century and the involvement of Jewish tycoon Lodewijk Pincoffs and socialite banker M. Mees.