The often turbulent history of the Czechs and Slovaks in the 20th Century leading from the
Czechoslovak Republic to four decades of communist rule ended with the Velvet Revolution in
1989. The independent Czech and Slovak democracies achieved EU membership in 2004. While their
political histories under Austrian and Hungarian rule in 19th Century has been widely
researched their intellectual history is still largely unknown mainly due to a lack of
English translations. Preparing Liberty in Central Europe provides a collection of newly
translated texts by Czech and Slovak intellectuals and political thinkers covering the period
of time from the Spring of Nations in 1848 to the Spring of Prague in 1968. The collection
includes Ján Kollár's On literary reciprocity T.G. Masaryk's The difficulties of Democracy and
the debate about the Czech Fate between Václav Havel and Milan Kundera in 1968 9. The volume
addresses students of history philosophy political science and Slavic Studies interested in
issues such as Slavonic national revival Panslavism Austroslavism liberalism and Human
Rights. Additional comments on text and author guide the reader through one hundred and thirty
years of Czech and Slovak political thought. A large selected bibliography and index complement
the volume.
