About the Author

Václav Havel was born in Czechoslovakia in 1936. His plays have been produced around the world, and he is the author of many influential essays on totalitarianism and dissent. He was a founding spokesman for Charter 77 and served as president of the Czech Republic until 2003. He died in 2011 at the age of 75.

Reviews

"Brilliant and perceptive analyses...of the abuse of power by bureaucracies driven by cynical self-interest." -- Boston Globe

"An inspiring collection...a fitting tribute to a cultural and political hero, and a valuable resource for anyone seeking reassurance that the principles of democracy are still cherished in our time." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Havel's essays...show a complex political and moral sensibility. [Writing] with wonderful clarity and directness, he has a rare gift for metaphor and example. He can capture, with a phrase or a word, the dishonesty of an era."

-- Times Literary Supplement

In a prescient 1987 essay, Czech playwright Havel, now his country's president, mocks those who look to ``Glasnost Czar'' Gorbachev as a liberator. Many of the pieces in this stirring collection of political essays, letters, speeches, autobiographical sketches, interviews and musings prefigure the upsurge of suppressed longings for freedom that toppled Czechoslovokia's totalitarian regime. A recurring theme is that fundamental change, whether in the East or the West, must begin with the individual conscience, with people resisting bureaucracy, ideologies and sloganeering. More than a third of the 25 selections appear here in English for the first time. The book closes with Havel's ringing 1990 New Year's address envisioning a democratic, prosperous republic that has overcome an obsolete economy, bankrupt school system and polluted environment. (June)