der Donck's giving up public office was apparently not enough, as he was subsequently denied the right to continue practicing law because there was no one of "sufficient ability and the necessary qualifications" to equal him. These restrictions seem to have not hindered his behind-the-scenes efforts: another political uprising against Stuyvesant broke out just weeks after van der Donck's return. In December, he had to petition for protection from Stuyvesant. There is no record of van der Donck's death, but he was alive and just 37 years old during the summer of 1655, then referred to as deceased in a court case heard January 10, 1656 (Wolfert Webber v. Catalyntie Verbeeck.The Records of New Amsterdam Vol. II, 1653 to 1674, Court of Burgomasters & Schepens, edited by Fernow, 1897, p.8) over parties disputing ownership of two bibles taken from his house by Indians. An affidavit from his widow was presented in that case on the matter. He evidently died on his estate, perhaps peacefully, as it is likely a violent death in one of a series of Indian raids during the Peach Tree War of September 1655 would have been raised and noted in the court record. He was survived by his wife and by his parents, whom he had separately convinced to emigrate. Legacy Johnson's translation was long recognized as "defective" and even "inept", but until 2008 remained the only translation available. Nevertheless, Mariana Van Rensselaer called van der Donck's Description of New Netherland "an exceptionally intelligent book of its kind", especially praising its quality as a natural history monograph. Its quality as an ethnography has also been praised by anthropologists and historians. Thomas O'Donnell wrote, Had he written in English rather than Dutch, his Description would certainly have won from posterity the same kind, if not the same amount, of veneration that has been bestowed on Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation. As it turned out, Van der Donck's book was written, published, widely read, put aside, and, alas, almost forgotten long before Bradford's book was published at all. Though the English eventually took over the colony, the city of New Amsterdam retained the municipal charter van der Donck had lobbied for, including uniquely Dutch features, such as a guarantee of free trade. In his 2004 work The Island at the Center of the Center of the World, the New York Times contributing writer Russell Shorto wrote that van der