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Sex and Drugs Before Rock 'n' Roll is a fascinating volume that presents an engaging overview of what it was like to be young and male in the Dutch Golden Age. Here, well-known cohorts of Rembrandt are examined for the ways in which they expressed themselves by defying conservative values and norms. This study reveals how these young men rebelled, breaking from previous generations: letting their hair grow long, wearing colorful clothing, drinking excessively, challenging city guards, being promiscuous, smoking, and singing lewd songs. Cogently argued, this study paints a compelling portrait of the youth culture of the Dutch Golden Age, at a time when the rising popularity of print made dissemination of new cultural ideas possible, while rising incomes and liberal attitudes created a generation of men behaving badly. - Dit boek richt zich op één generatie van jonge mannen die werd geboren rond 1600 en volwassen werd tijdens het hoogtepunt van de Gouden Eeuw. Van bekende generatiegenoten, zoals Rembrandt van Rijn, wordt onderzocht hoe ze uiting gaven aan hun jongerencultuur en mannelijkheid. Roberts onderzoekt de mannelijkheid van deze jonge mannen op het gebied van uiterlijk, drinken, drugs, het gebruik van geweld, hun seksualiteit en hun manier van vrijetijdsinvulling. Hij laat zien hoe zij zich afzetten tegen de vorige generatie onder andere door hun lang haren, kleurrijke kleding, promiscuiteit en overmatig drankgebruik.

In the course of the early seventeenth century, smoking tobacco changed from being a vice of social outcasts to a common pastime enjoyed in all echelons of Dutch society. Among the first to experiment with tobacco were male youths. This article questions why young men started using tobacco and explores possible "smoking" role models that might have influenced them to take up smoking. The most likely candidates were soldiers and civic guards, who, in general, were considered macho men. Besides being heroes on the battlefield and protectors of cities, these models of manhood were renowned to youngsters for their drinking, womanizing, and smoking. In the eyes of male youths, these activities were important liminal rites that demarcated boyhood from manhood.

During the 1650s and 1660s, the Dutch Republic witnessed a wave of moral panic created by moralists. Every natural disaster, economic setback, and war that the Republic was involved in was considered to be a sign of God's wrath on Holland's newly acquired freedom, wealth, and secular society. Much of the finger-pointing was directed toward Holland's young people, who were accused of being vain, defying the Sabbath, visiting the theater, gambling, drinking, and fornicating. These accusations were, however, misplaced. This article examines the moral crusade of the 1650s and 1660s, and discovers that moralists were more upset that the Dutch Republic became a secular society and did not evolve into a theocratic state or "Dutch Israel," as they had hoped. Holland's youth were used as a scapegoat to create moral panic among political leaders, so they would reform Holland's secular society.