Historical Dictionary of Brussels

Paul F. State has lived and worked in Brussels and maintains close ties with the city. He is an editor in European history a translator, a journalist, and a writer on topics in international affairs, politics, and history. His is the author also of A Brief History of the Netherlands (2008), A Brief History of Ireland (2009), and A Brief History of France (2010).

• Editor’s Foreword Jon Woronoff PrefaceAcknowledgmentsReader’s NoteList of Acronyms and AbbreviationsMapsChronologyIntroductionTHE DICTIONARYAppendixesA. The Nineteen Communes of the Brussels Capital RegionB. Population of the City of Brussels, ca. 1400–2012C. Burgomasters of Brussels, 1830–PresentD. Minister-Presidents of the Brussels Capital RegionE. The Nine NationsF. Division of Residents According to Language UsedBibliographyAbout the Author

The volume is a mine of information for anyone wanting a useful summary of the achievements of a range of individuals and of organizations which have played a prominent role in the city’s history or of events which have made Brussels so important to the movement towards European union. The curious reader will no doubt be rewarded for their outlay by access to a range of information on subjects as diverse as the story of Edith Cavell, nursing heroine of the Great War and the history of chocolate confectionery in Brussels. How many outside Brussels are aware that the city houses a museum devoted to the cultivation of a local vegetable, the Brussels Witloof or white endive? The volume is completed by a number of useful... illustrations. The volume should be on the desk of every Brussels bureaucrat!