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Overview
From the former president of the Czech Republic comes this first-hand account of his years in office and the transition to democracy following the fall of Communism.
A renowned playwright, Václav Havel became one of Czechoslovakia's most prominent dissidents under Communist rule – and the president after the Velvet Revolution, making him a key player in European politics. Here we see first-hand the challenges of creating a new government, tempered with Havel's revealing insights into the difficulties posed by an era of increased globalization and conflict. He discusses not only the situation in his own country, but also such pressing issues as the future of the European Union, the war in Iraq, and the role of the United States in contemporary affairs. Written with an eye towards both the political and the personal and a witty, well-honed eloquence, To the Castle and Back is a rare glimpse into the minds of one of the most important political figures of modern times.
Synopsis
From the former president of the Czech Republic comes this first-hand account of his years in office and the transition to democracy following the fall of Communism.
A renowned playwright, Václav Havel became one of Czechoslovakia's most prominent dissidents under Communist rule – and the president after the Velvet Revolution, making him a key player in European politics. Here we see first-hand the challenges of creating a new government, tempered with Havel's revealing insights into the difficulties posed by an era of increased globalization and conflict. He discusses not only the situation in his own country, but also such pressing issues as the future of the European Union, the war in Iraq, and the role of the United States in contemporary affairs. Written with an eye towards both the political and the personal and a witty, well-honed eloquence, To the Castle and Back is a rare glimpse into the minds of one of the most important political figures of modern times.
The New York Times - Paul Berman
Vaclav Havel's To the Castle and Back is an artful, sly and touching self-portrait, cleverly and neurotically disguised as an artless heap of dry scribbled notes and wastebasket throwaways. In a preface to the English edition, Havel nearly advises us not to read the book at all. "If you occasionally feel like putting the book aside because it seems to skirt some of the world-shaking events that I lived through…I urge you to skip ahead." But don't listen to him.
Editorials
Paul Berman
Vaclav Havel's To the Castle and Back is an artful, sly and touching self-portrait, cleverly and neurotically disguised as an artless heap of dry scribbled notes and wastebasket throwaways. In a preface to the English edition, Havel nearly advises us not to read the book at all. "If you occasionally feel like putting the book aside because it seems to skirt some of the world-shaking events that I lived through…I urge you to skip ahead." But don't listen to him.—The New York Times
Foreign Affairs
In a clever pastiche perhaps substituting for the autobiography that may never be written, Havel interlaces daily reflections composed in 2005 during a two-month stay in Washington, several weeks at his summer place, Hradecek, and a stay at Hel, on the Baltic, with his responses in an extended interview with Karl Hvizdala, each part interrupted by the record of daily instructions to his staff over most of the ten years he was president of the Czech Republic (1993-2003). The staff instructions deal with the nitty-gritty of governing -- or sometimes only his battle with his personal computer or need to get his cigarette lighter fixed. The carefully paced interview is the book's heart. It covers in detail everything from Havel's view of himself to his relations with colleagues, friends, and foes, from the personal details of his life with his second wife to the string of late-life personal health crises. The reflections are more philosophical and increasingly streaked with the tribulations of a weakening body and mind, but they also contain fond, if sometimes hilarious, observations about Americans. The effect is of three movies running simultaneously and somehow overlapping to produce a whole.<