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Pronk tries to convey Suriname's history and the dire legacies of colonialism and Dutch rule honestly, but in the end says little about the sentiments in Suriname society. Two topics dominated the two-year-long discussion: economic development and the establishment of an army - exactly the two topics that would determine developments in Suriname as well as the uneasy Suriname-Dutch relations for decades to come. Thus it is not a page turner with juicy anecdotes, nor does it reveal any new information, but it is an important, business-like source for both the Dutch approach to the making of the Republic of Suriname and Dutch-Suriname relations as viewed from The Hague. [Extracted from the article]

The article reviews two books. Books that are listed include "De toekomst van het Koninkrijk: Over de dekolonisatie van de Nederlandse Antillen," by John Jansen Van Galen and "De Antillen bestaan niet: De nadagen van een fictief land," by Miriam Sluis.