Read complete books and articles on: Vaclav Havel

Havel, VÁclav - vätsˈläv hävĕl, 1936–, Czech dramatist and essayist, president of Czechoslovakia (1989–92) and the Czech Republic (1993–2003). The most original Czech dramatist to emerge in the 1960s, Havel soon antagonized the political power structure by focusing on the senselessness and absurdity of mechanized, totalitarian society in plays that implicitly criticized the government such as The Garden Party (1963, tr. 1969) and The Memorandum (1965, tr. 1967) and in various essays of the 1960s and 70s. As a leading spokesman for the dissident group Charter 77, he was imprisoned (1979–83) by the Czechoslovak Communist regime, and his plays were banned.

Havel was the principal spokesman for the Civic Forum, an opposition group, when it succeeded in forcing (1989) the Communist party to share power, and he became interim president of Czechoslovakia. He was elected president of Czechoslovakia after the collapse of Communism in 1990 and resigned in 1992 prior to the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, to which he was opposed. He was elected president of the new Czech Republic in 1993 and reelected in 1998. As president he tended toward a social democratic approach to social and economic issues, strongly supporting civil liberties and human rights and an eastward-expanding NATO. He retired from the presidency in 2003. Havel's works include Protocols (essays and poems, 1966), Letters to Olga (1983, tr. 1989), Three Vanek Plays (1990), Open Letters: Selected Writings 1965–1990 (1991), Summer Meditations (1991, tr. 1992), and Selected Plays, 1984–87 (1994).

See interview ed. by P. Wilson, Disturbing the Peace (tr. 1990); biography by M. Simmons (1991); collections of essays on Havel, ed. by J. Vladislav (1986) and M. Goetz-Stankiewicz and P. Carey (1999); study by J. Keane (2000).

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16 of the Best Books and Articles on: Vaclav Havel

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Vaclav Havel: A Political Tragedy in Six Acts » Read Now
by John Keane. 538 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

This authorized biography of Havel, based on unrestricted access to him, his circle, and even his enemies, is the first definitive account of one of the great moral and political leaders of our time, a vivid portrait of the tumultuous events of this century. Begun as European colonialism was dying...
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This authorized biography of Havel, based on unrestricted access to him, his circle, and even his enemies, is the first definitive account of one of the great moral and political leaders of our time, a vivid portrait of the tumultuous events of this century. Begun as European colonialism was dying and fascism gripped the continent, Havel's life has been shaped and determined by the large political shifts of the century: World War II, the drawing of the Iron Curtain, the Prague Spring, the fall of Communism, and the emerging democracies of the Eastern bloc. Readers will be surprised to discover many things hitherto unknown about Havel. They will taste the moments of joy, irony, farce, and misfortune through which he has lived. Above all, they will discover something that both his critics and supporters should never forget: Havel taught the world more about the powerful and the powerless, power-grabbing and power-sharing, than virtually any of his twentieth-century rivals.
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2.

A Man for This Season: Vaclav Havel on Freedom and Responsibility, in Perspectives on Political Science » Read Now
by Jean Bethke Elshtain. 5 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

...A Man for This Season: Vaclav Havel on Freedom and Responsibility...to crumble and fall apart. -- Vaclav Havel, Letters to Olga Vaclav Havels...1979 ), 333-334. 2. Vaclav...
3.

Havel's Postmodern View of Man in the Cosmos, in Perspectives on Political Science » Read Now
by Peter Augustine Lawler. 8 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...investigate the development in Vaclav Havels thought reflected...speeches aim to clarify what Havel meant by responsibility...197-224. 5. Vaclav Havel, "A Call for...
4.

Symbolism in the Diplomacy of Czech President Vaclav Havel, in East European Quarterly » Read Now
by Rick Fawn. 19 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...the Diplomacy of Czech President Vaclav Havel. by Rick Fawn Sir Ernest...and later Czechoslovak President Vaclav Havel added "good taste," which he explained...the...
5.

The Politics of Hope and Optimism: Rorty, Havel, and the Democratic Faith of John Dewey, in Social Research » Read Now
by Patrick J. Deneen. 33 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...John Dewey, and the newer entrant Vaclav Havel. Both figures are appropriate...Rorty also lauds the thought of Vaclav Havel for similar reasons: Havels...
6.

Whose Nation? Czech Dissidents and History Writing from a Post-1989 Perspective, in History and Memory » Read Now
by Chad Bryant. 35 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, History, Entire Library

...overwhelming choice for president was Vaclav Havel, a well-known philosopher/ playwright...Day. 60 And Pithart noted: Vaclav Havel and the Civic Movement quickly...and...
7.

Community and Political Thought Today (Chap. 13 "The Experience of Totalitarianism and Recovery of Nature: Reflections on Philosophy and Community in the Thought of Solzhenitsyn, Havel, and Strauss") » Read Now
by Peter Augustine Lawler, Dale McConkey. 244 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library

There is a crisis in America revolving around social and political life that the contributors to this volume believe has provoked a renewed attention to the issue of community in political thought. That attention is found most prominently in the "communitarian" movement, but it also finds expression...
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There is a crisis in America revolving around social and political life that the contributors to this volume believe has provoked a renewed attention to the issue of community in political thought. That attention is found most prominently in the "communitarian" movement, but it also finds expression in the views of the prominent political thinkers of our time.
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8.

Czechoslovakia: The Velvet Revolution and Beyond (Chap. 3 "Havel - Power to the Powerless") » Read Now
by Robin H. E. Shepherd. 216 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

In 1993 Czechoslovakia split into two states. This book looks at the political and economic changes of two countries in transition and argues that much remains to be done before they have shaken off the legacy of a harsh communist past.
9.

After the Fall: The Pursuit of Democracy in Central Europe (Chap. 5 "Havel to the Castle") » Read Now
by Jeffrey C. Goldfarb. 288 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...societal problems -- is rejected. Vaclav Havel, the Czech dramatist, political...activists, theorists, and writers as Vaclav Havel, Adam Michnik, and George Konrad...Velvet...
10.

What Is Truth? (Chap. 19 "Vaclav Havel and Living the Truth") » Read Now
by Peter Vardy. 202 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library

Charting a course between opposing movements of relativism and religious fundamentalism, this book draws on a broad range of thinkers and religious beliefs to argue for the case of truth.
11.

Shock Waves: Eastern Europe after the Revolutions (Chap. 7 "Czechoslovakia ... A Moral Foreign Policy") » Read Now
by John Feffer. 350 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...Castle hoping to catch a glimpse of Vaclav Havel during his presidential inauguration...among them playwright and dissident Vaclav Havel. Later, as Poles were...
12.

Multicultural, Multipolar Interconnectedness - Toward a Global Civilization Chulalongkorn University: Dialogue among Civilizations, in International Journal of Humanities and Peace » Read Now
by Vaclav Havel. 2 pgs.

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...Chulalongkorn University: dialogue among civilizations by Vaclav Havel Bangkok, February 12, 1994 Ladies and gentlemen...cooperation in todays dramatically changing world...
13.

Capitalism with a Human Face?, in The Humanist » Read Now
by Scott Tucker. 3 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...On New Years Day, 1990, Vaclav Havel, the playwright and human...Communism, the Government of Vaclav Havel banned or restricted arms...conservative Government of Vaclav...
14.

The Need for Transcendence in the Postmodern World, in The Futurist » Read Now
by Vaclav Havel. 4 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...for transcendence in the postmodern world. by Vaclav Havel In this postmodern world, cultural conflicts are...he does not forget the One who endowed him with it. Vaclav...
15.

Transcending Havel, in Free Inquiry » Read Now
by Timothy J. Madigan. 2 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library

...institutions. We must understand differently and more perfectly the true purpose of our existence on this earth. - Vaclav Havel Vaclav Havel, president of the Czech...
16.

Play It Again, Vaclav - The Wisdom in Havel's Plays, in World and I » Read Now
by Lesley Chamberlain. 6 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...human condition. In 1986, when I reviewed Vaclav Havels play Temptation for Londons Times...Velvet Revolution swept communism aside, and Havel became president of his...