Journalist and historian Geert Mak was born in 1946. His father served as a Protestant clergyman in the Dutch province of Friesland; the family also lived for a time on the island of Sumatra. Mak’s journalistic career has included stints with the weekly De Groene Amsterdammer, the VPRO broadcasting company and the NRC Handelsblad daily. As from 1992 he has dedicated himself increasingly to the writing of books… some journalistic, some more historical in nature. His work has been translated into fourteen languages.

Geert Ludzer Mak was born in Vlaardingen on December 4, 1946, as the youngest son of the Dutch Reformed clergyman Catrinus Mak and his wife, Geertje van der Molen. Geert Mak grew up in the towns of Leeuwarden and Hurdegaryp, and attended the Reformed Gymnasium in Leeuwarden. He wrote a detailed account of his own family history in the bestselling De Eeuw van Mijn Vader (My Father’s Century).

From 1965 on he studied law and sociology at the VU University Amsterdam and the University of Amsterdam. In addition, he worked from 1970 to 1972 as parliamentary assistant for the Pacifist Socialist Party in the Dutch Second Chamber of Parliament.