Grote Geschiedenis Prijs for Luuc Kooijmans

For the last two years, the Grote Geschiedenis Prijs (Great History Prize) has been awarded to the year’s best historical book. This year the Prize, a sum of 10,000 Euro, has been conferred upon Gevaarlijke kennis: inzicht in de dagen van Jan Swammerdam (Dangerous knowledge: Insight and fear in the days of Jan Swammerdam) by Luuc Kooijmans.

According to jury chairman Frits van Oostrom, Kooijmans dares ‘to investigate seriously the material he has accumulated, bringing it to life. Among the major issues examined there is one that turns out to be surprisingly topical: how do you cope with the fact that knowledge is necessarily limited, that there are always domains where a rational answer cannot be given? You could call it the tension between belief and science. As such, a book allows a glimpse of what was the past, and stimulates you to think about the present. That may be the highest aim a history book can achieve.’

In addition to Kooijmans, the other nominees were: Machiel Bosman (Elisabeth de Flines: een onmogelijke liefde in de achttiende eeuw / Elisabeth de Flines: an impossible love in the eighteenth century), Evelien Gans (Jaap en Ischa Meijer: een joodse geschiedenis 1912-1956 / Jaap and Ischa Meijer : a Jewish history 1912-1956), Suzanna Jansen (Het pauperparadijs: een familiegeschiedenis / Pauper’s Paradise: a family history) and Henk van Osch with Jonkheer D.J. de Geer: de teloorgang van een minister-president / Squire D.J. de Geer: the demise of a Minister President.

Published: October 7, 2008 news | non-fiction