In Seks, Drugs en Rock 'n' Roll in de Gouden Eeuw (‘Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n’ Roll in the Golden Age’), historian Benjamin B. Roberts paints a fascinating portrait of the lives of young men int he first half of the seventeenth century. He describes the riotous behaviour of prominent figures such as Rembrandt – born in 1606 – and brings the values of his rebellious peers to life.

Roberts convincingly demonstrates that young men rebelled then as they do now, and moved against previous generations. They grew out their hair, wore outrageous clothes, smoked, drank too much, got into fights with the city guards, cheated, and sang bawdy songs.

This accessibly written book paints a vivid portrait of youth culture in the Golden Age; a time when the advent of printing allowed for a rapid spread of a culture of permissiveness. The spread of liberal ideas, together with the rising incomes, created a new generation of ‘bad boys’. Using hilarious examples, Roberts shows that deviant behaviour is timeless.