Postcards from Absurdistan

The book Postcards from Absurdistan, written by the British-Canadian Bohemian studies scholar Derek Sayer, presents a unique insight into Czech history of the twentieth century. In his previous book, the author called Prague the capital of the 20th century (Prague, Capital of the Twentieth Century: A Surrealist History, Volvox Globator, 2021), and this perspective remains the starting point for this book as well. Derek Sayer delves into cultural and social events, uncovering the absurdities that accompanied the 20th century while also highlighting the fragility of the democratic system. The book's subtitle, Prague at the End of History, alludes to the famous work written by Francis Fukuyama in the 1990s, but at the same time, it carries the detached perspective that is characteristic of Derek Sayer. The book intertwines historical and political events with the personal histories of Czech personalities who fought for their own freedom in the inhospitable conditions of much of the twentieth century. Great attention is paid to the development of art, which was forced to react to the political situation in one way or another. The book meets all the criteria of a scholarly work, yet the author is not constrained by academic language; on the contrary, it is a very readable text, accompanied by more than seventy period photographs.