Havel

The life of Václav Havel was an unlikely one. He started out as a playwright whose work earned him an international following, then turned into a dissident who challenged the Communist authorities in Czechoslovakia. Almost against his own wishes, he ended up as the country's president. Havel helped drive the Velvet Revolution, oversaw the collapse of Communism, and guided the Czech Republic toward a modern identity oriented toward the West, which places him among the defining figures of the twentieth century.

The author, Michael Zantovsky, knew Havel as a close adviser and friend. When Havel first held the presidency, Zantovsky worked alongside him as press secretary, speechwriter and translator. Their relationship lasted until Havel died in 2011, so the book is written by someone who watched many of these events from inside Havel's circle.

The result is a first-hand portrait of a man who was both a playwright with a sharp sense of irony and a political leader who never fully embraced power. It offers readers a close look at the public and private sides of a figure who shaped the end of the Cold War in Central Europe.