Buruma effectively illustrates the shocked response to the murder of Theo van Gogh as a juxtaposition against Amsterdam’s philosophy of pragmatic tolerance. The discussion of this particular incident is supplemented by a narration of many immigrants in Amsterdam, allowing for many sides of the discussion to be seen by readers.

The book did a good job of drawing a picture of the current state in the Netherlands and Europe with regards to public sentiment towards immigrant communities. Since this is very much a current issue, one is left with a sense of incompleteness, as there remains a lot to be said. I learned quite a bit, and would recommend it for anyone interested in the issue.