Even though office gossip is generally frowned upon, many studies show that gossip in organizations is not only inevitable, but can even be a positive communication tool. However, by gossiping in the wrong way, employees can easily lose the trust of their colleagues and be perceived negatively very quickly.

Research shows that people who claim to never gossip tend to be considered as socially inept, but those that are constantly gabbing at the coffee machine are quickly seen as untrustworthy....

How ‘green’ were people in late antiquity and the Middle Ages? Unlike today, the nature around them was approached with faith, trust and care. The population size was many times smaller than today and human impact on nature not as extreme as it is now. People did not have to worry about issues like deforestation and sustainability.

This book is about the knowledge of plants and where that knowledge came from. How did people use earth and plants in ancient times, and what did they know abo...

It has become increasingly apparent to early modern religious, political, cultural and book-historians that translations provide badly neglected but unique and invaluable insights into the processes of cultural change and exchange. This volume provides a wealth of precious insights into the whole process of translation. The articles shed invaluable light on early modern scholarly practices and careers, cultural exchange and relations, the book trade, and the religious politics of the Dutch Re...

Under the slogan ‘Merdeka!’, the Republic of Indonesia rushed into a battle for independence – a struggle whose outcome no one could predict. Harry Poeze and Henk Schulte Nordholt provide a new narrative about the revolution, focusing not only on the fight against the Dutch but also on the precarious rise of the Republic."

After the horrors of the Japanese occupation, the Republican leaders needed to somehow build a new state. From the Dutch side, they had to deal with short-sighted pol...

Contributing to societal change starts with nurturing inner development: personal growth equips individuals with the skills, attitudes and awareness needed to contribute effectively to their communities and society.

Inner Development Conversation Starters is a powerful tool for transition makers, encouraging deep reflection and dialogue. Each of the 46 cards features a thought-provoking question, based on the Inner Development Goals.

Through guided explorations of skills and attitudes, such ...

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek and Johannes Vermeer were peers, extremely curious and grew up in the bustling Delft of the seventeenth century. Nowadays, they are world famous.

Both explored and created new worlds. Van Leeuwenhoek discovered the miraculous micro-life with his self-built microscopes, Vermeer played with light and painted masterpieces such as The Girl with the Pearl Earring and View of Delft.

What if…they knew each other? Did they know each other? Oh yes, they could have!

What if th...

This innovative introduction to literary studies takes 'the life of texts' as its overarching frame. It provides a conceptual and methodological toolbox for analysing novels, poems, and all sorts of other texts as they circulate in oral, print, and digital form. It shows how texts inspire each other, and how stories migrate across media. It explains why literature has been interpreted in different ways across time. Finally, it asks why some texts fascinate people so much that they are reprodu...

Most people know little more than fragments of Dutch Jewish history: the Portuguese Jews of Amsterdam; Jewish socialism; the devastating years of the Second World War. So where is the storyline? What happened to the Jews in the Netherlands from the moment they first settled there permanently? This book answers that question. It presents the central points of 700 years of Jewish history in the Netherlands briefly and succinctly. One hundred elements of the story have been chosen that taken as ...

Institutions across the globe are increasingly questioned on how their foundations are rooted in colonialism and how they aim to ‘decolonize’. The Future of the Dutch Colonial Past provides an overview of critical scholarly reflections on the history of Dutch slavery and colonization, as well as how this translates into critical cultural practices. It also explores possible futures: What can heritage institutions learn from (international) best practices regarding the ‘decolonization’...