Dissidents in Power: The Czech Path to Freedom and Democracy

Thirty-five years ago, the Berlin Wall fell, the Soviet-Russian empire began to crumble, and Czechs started on their path to freedom and democracy. What was the role of the Czech dissident movement and Charter 77 in this process? What are the greatest successes and failures of the former dissidents who were in power during the transformation of the totalitarian state into a liberal democracy? How is Czech society coming to terms with its communist past? And how can the dissident experience be an inspiration for today's opponents of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes?

These are just some of the questions revisited in the book titled Dissidents in Power: The Czech Path to Freedom and Democracy, edited by historian and publicist Petr Hlaváček. In their essays, leading Czech intellectuals and former dissidents explore these issues from often unexpected perspectives. The book is not only a chronicle of the difficult transformation of the Soviet-Russian empire's satellites and governorates into free and sovereign countries but also an attempt to reflect on the last decade, in which the struggle between democracy and totalitarianism has flared up again.

This is also reflected in a specific way in the interviews the editor conducted with some members of the authorial team and other prominent dissidents. The foreword was written by the late American politician Madeleine K. Albright. The publication is a dialogical and provocative text that encourages readers to reflect on the burning issues of Czech civil society in a European and global context.

The cover illustration is by Kateřina Sidonová, and the publication is accompanied by photographs by Pavel Hroch and caricatures by the artist Jiří Slíva.