Václav Havel was a Czech statesman, writer and former political dissident, who served as the last President of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 and then as the first President of the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003. You can purchase a copy of my biography of Havel on Amazon.com.
Reviews:
“Barton’s sprightly, readable overview of Havel’s life and work is especially incisive in thinking through Havel’s personality, particularly his shyness, self-doubt and depression and their impact on his sometimes reluctant, sometimes welcome embrace, of a live lived in public. Without judgment, Barton chronicles how Havel’s friendships and relationships molded him as a man and as a thinker.”—Michelle Woods, author of Translating Milan Kundera
“David Barton has written an expansive and informing portrait of Václav Havel. It is an engrossing read that captures the resilience and eloquence of a man who started as an artist, became a dissident, and eventually a statesman and great leader. The lessons here, restoring democratic ideals in a time of chaos, are more relevant and important now than ever.”—Governor Bill Richardson
“The number of books published on Havel, his life and legacy, is proof of his relevance. It also makes it hard to come up with a new angle in an approachable and readable form. David Barton has achieved that and gives [readers] all one needs to understand Havel’s [place in] Czech and Central Europe through their history and present. An important contribution for understanding Europe as it is now.” —Hynek Kmonicek, Ambassador to the United States
“I have just finished reading the book. I enjoyed every word of it. Although I know the story quite intimately, it is so refreshing to see that [Barton] calls a spade a spade.” —Jan Triska, Czech actor