New Book
Greg Shapiro – The American Netherlander – is known from the ‘Netherlands Second’ video, Comedy Central, and Boom Chicago. Here he celebrates 25 years in the Netherlands by revealing his hilariously clumsy assimilation into Dutch society.
If you are looking for an official guide to Dutch culture, this is not it. BUT if you’re looking for one man’s completely subjective and utterly quirky impression of Dutch culture, then this book is for you.
In THE AMERICAN NETHERLANDER: 25 Years of Expat Tales, Shapiro combines elements of his first book How to Be Orange and his second book How to Be Dutch: the Quiz – featuring all the questions that SHOULD be on the Dutch citizenship exam.
REVIEWS for Greg Shapiro’s New Book 25 Years of Expat Tales
‘So funny you’ll hardly be able to put it down!’ – I AM EXPAT
https://www.iamexpat.nl/lifestyle/giveaways-competitions/win-copy-american-netherlander-greg-shapiro
‘Chuckle away the hours… Plenty of entertainment here.’ – DUTCHNEWS
https://www.dutchnews.nl/books/the-american-netherlander-25-years-of-expat-tales/
‘Recommended on all levels’ – ARTSTALK MAGAZINE
http://artstalkmagazine.nl/greg-shapiro-the-american-netherlander/
The American Netherlander contains ‘The Dutch Deserve a Better National Anthem.’
The American Netherlander contains ‘The Most Inappropriate Dutch Signs.’ WATCH:
PRESS RELEASE – GREG SHAPIRO’S NEW BOOK THE AMERICAN NETHERLANDER
In 1994, author Greg Shapiro came to the Netherlands to work for one summer doing comedy for a start-up theater called Boom Chicago, but he stayed for love. That was the start of a cultural adventure, with incidents and elements that anyone who spends some time in the Netherlands is bound to recognize. Covering topics that range from Bike Etiquette, to Dutch meetings, to to social issues such as Zwarte Piet, The American Netherlander is just too much fun to put down.
Try to picture some the scenes he recreates, such as the births of his children and his introduction to the ‘mother cookie’ and ‘shame hair.’ Written with a wry sense of humor and an eye for detail and the ludicrous, he manages to paint a picture of a nation that is part cartoon, part realism. At each turn of the page, you find yourself both laughing about and appreciating the Dutch.
And then Greg Shapiro treats you to his version of the Dutch Assimilation Test. First, he analyzes the actual exam questions: “Every question tells a story,” Shapiro explains. And then he unveils “The Questions That Should Be on the Quiz.”
The American Netherlander is accompanied by entertaining cartoons by illustrator Floor de Goede and photographs by the author.
Greg’s 2013 book HOW TO BE ORANGE: An Alternative Assimilation Course
https://gregshapiro.nl/portfolio_page/greg-shapiro-how-to-be-orange/
Greg’s 2016 book HOW TO BE DUTCH: the Quiz
https://gregshapiro.nl/portfolio_page/greg-shapiro-how-to-be-dutch/