After the Velvet Revolution: VýAclav Havel and the New Leaders of Czechoslovakia Speak Out

From Library Journal
The dissidents who made the Czech revolution were primarily from an artistic and intellectual background. This collection of essays, interviews, and speeches reveal the new leaders' interests and erudition as they discuss how the revolution came to pass and their vision of Czechoslovakia's future. Included are Havel, Alexander Dubcek, Jiri Dienstbier, and many other current and former members of Civic Forum plus the First Secretary of the Czech Communist Party. Unlike Havel's Disturbing the Peace ( LJ 6/15/90) and Dubcek Speaks ( LJ 12/90), which look back to the authors' past, this book looks forward to a free Czechoslovakia in the next century and to the kind of state that it should strive to become. This should interest many readers and is recommended for public and academic libraries.- Marcia L. Sprules, Council of Foreign Relations Lib., New YorkCopyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description
Since November 1989, when they threw off the yoke of Communist rule, the citizens of Czechoslovakia have had to face the legacy of Communism: a comatose economy, the worst pollution in Europe, and the brutal legal and political distortions of a one-party state. In this volume of recent speeches, interviews, and essays by members of the federal and republican governments, independents, and the First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, the most influential and articulate of the new leaders share their assessments of the past and hopes for the future. Vaclav Havel expands on the broad vision offered in his address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress last February. The views expressed here with wit, incisiveness and elegance give us a glimpse of the country as it takes a new shape, while representing the declared values against which the future acts of these amateur politicians will be measured. Tim Whipple's commentary gives the historical and biographical backgrounds necessary for people who bring to their reading little information about Czechoslovakia.


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Since November 1989, when they threw off the yoke of Communist rule, the citizens of Czechoslovakia have had to face the legacy of Communism: a comatose economy, the worst pollution in Europe, and the brutal legal and political distortions of a one-party state. In this volume of recent speeches, interviews, and essays by members of the federal and republican governments, independents, and the First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, the most influential and articulate of the new leaders share their assessments of the past and hopes for the future. Vaclav Havel expands on the broad vision offered in his address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress last February. The views expressed here with wit, incisiveness and elegance give us a glimpse of the country as it takes a new shape, while representing the declared values against which the future acts of these amateur politicians will be measured. Tim Whipple's commentary gives the historical and biographical backgrounds necessary for people who bring to their reading little information about Czechoslovakia.


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