Rotterdam became the world's largest port city. The Netherlands is a major center of multinational corporations. Right now the country is run by a coalition made up of the VVD, the D66, and the PvdA, while in opposition you have CDA, SP, GroenLinks, GPV, SGP, RPF, . . . Yet politics in Holland are quite moderate despite the profusion of parties. It's a great country for Americans to travel in.
Travel is easy.
From Atlanta, Delta and the Dutch airline KLM fly daily direct to the airport at Amsterdam. There is a very good hotel rating system, and every participating hotel must meet basic standards of comfort and cleanliness. Dutch towns and cities are very big on preservation, and if you really want to see what buildings and streets looked like in sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, there is no better place to go. Art and history lovers should stop in at the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum. Second, driving in the country during tourist season means traffic jams - big ones.