This is John Batchel, a conversation with the author, Russell Shorto. His new book, Taking Manhattan,

is that moment in time, 1664, when the English invaded New Amsterdam and took it over and merged and it became New York.

It is a story that fetches in the intrigues of Europe at that time.

17th century Europe was dominated by turmoil, especially the English crown had been executed

in 1649. The Puritans had been dictating policy for several years till Oliver Cromwell died.

Meanwhile, the Puritan colony in New England

was indifferent to working with either Mother Britain or its neighbor in New York, New

Netherlands. New Netherland was indeterminate borders, but it was dominated by the Dutch

trading empire. And the English showed up after the restoration of Charles II.

All that is part of the intrigue of the founding of New York.

And Russell Shorto tells a heck of a story.

Here's Russell commenting on Peter Stuyveson, the governor of New Amsterdam, the day the English sailed in to

take it over. Much more tonight. Well, as you know, John, I wrote a book 20 years ago called

The Island at the Center of the World, which is about Manhattan, and it's about, it really is

the history of the Dutch colony of New Nether Netherlands. And the center of that book was this

showdown between Peter Stuyvesant and Adrian van der Dengk,

who was sort of the leader of the opposition party in New

Netherlands. And in that book, the way I understood

Stuyvesant at that time, and the way he appears in that book, is he's hot-headed, he's intolerant.

He believes that as the leader of the colony, he should be treated more or less as a king.

And his subjects, as he called them, should pay him homage.

And so he butts heads with these very strong-willed traders in his colony.

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