Slovakia Books

Judith Sherman's Say the Name can be seen as a theodicy that arises out of the Jewish tradition and in response to the events of the Holocaust. In poetry and prose we see, on the one hand, the horror of human evil, and on the other, the hope and meaning that arises out of tragedy in the form of poetic expression and imagination. Sherman a provides vivid and horrific account of physical pain, mental suffering, and moral wickedness. In a moving passage, Sherman recounts:

Today a woman runs suddenly from the Appell line--she runs towards the electrified fence. The dogs get to her before she reaches it. Screaming, she tries to put push the dog away...The animal is not called back, he attacks until there is no more movement. Every horrified one of us wants to rush and help--no one does. Silence. There are so many of us here, how are we so crushed into silence and inaction? The reason right there, in front of us--they watch us closely, provocatively, hand on the trigger and dogs at the ready--hoping for another futile sacrifice...We are filled with rage and pity and helplessness and are paralyzed by their brutality (102).

This passage confronts us with the reality of evil as experienced by Jewish women in German concentration camps. Based on this reality, it is not difficult to see how people who believe in God, and have a particular image of God, can question or call into account the God in whom they believe. Sherman's account reveals a questioning of the divine. Is God not outraged? Does God not hear what is going on? Indeed, where is God? "Where is the judge? Where are you, judge? Is there a judge?" (117).

Her response to these questions is to invoke biblical imagery and to invite God to come and witness, and account for the tragedy that has taken place. In her poem, "The Invitation," she invokes the imagery of Jacob's ladder and asks that God come down the ladder and witness the sights "not fit/ for Godly eyes/ not fit for thee/ is it for me?/ who will make it fit for Thee?" (118). Or again, having experienced so much pain, she requests that God take on her pain, "You have it/ and be/ branded" (122). Does God identify with our pain? Is God in solidarity with those who suffer? It seems that Sherman is inviting God to be present with the women beaten down by guards, chased by dogs, shot to death, and with those who have to witness these events without the ability to respond. It is a moving book in which the author has mustered up the courage to recount her experiences and to "say the name."

How can there be so much evil in the world? More pointedly, how can an all powerful and loving God allow such evil? Where is God? These and other tough questions are asked by Judith Sherman as she reflects on her time spent at the Nazi concentration camp Ravensbruck at the young age of fourteen. Combining narrative prose with short poignant poetry, Sherman walks the reader through the painful and emotional events, describing her sense of frustration at a God who has abandoned her and the rest of the Jewish people. Most accounts of the Holocaust elicit deep emotions and feelings and this book certainly does that, but in a unique way. The prose unfolds the details of her story and then all of a sudden you become struck by the overwhelming emotion and powerful insight of a short three or four line poem. This combination has a strong effect and throughout the book the poems remain clearly in your memory and serve to give more meaning to the details and descriptions of the horrendous struggles of a concentration camp.

With detailed descriptions, Sherman focuses on everyday objects, such as a pair of shoes, and transforms them from their ordinary status into things that have a greater significance and meaning. The transformation and emphasis on objects shows how Sherman's outlook on life has changed and through this outlook Sherman has finally been given the voice to tell her story, giving the reader the chance to connect to it in a moving and profound way. Reading this book will give new meaning to the themes of theodocy, family, memory, the human spirit, and most of all will give you a new outlook on life.

After having learned at length about the atrocities of the Holocaust in history class every year of middle and high school, and after hearing personal accounts from my many Jewish classmates about their grandparents in concentration camps, I felt almost overloaded with news of the horrors and wasn't particularly excited about reading another book about the Holocaust.

But Say the Name is different. Judith Sherman manages to convey the depths of despair and suffering that occurred during her time in hiding, in concentration camps, on a death march without any trace of stridency, but rather with her own quiet and simple words that are humbly defiant and moving. She communicated to me, for the first time really, how it feels to not have any control over what happens to your body, to be stripped of a voice, to be robbed of a name. This poetic novel, more than any other I have read on the topic, speaks to the psychological death as well as the physical one that the Nazis inflicted on so many millions. Judith Sherman resists both, however, and her spirit is evident in the fact that she was able to share in writing her deepest and most agonizing thoughts and memories about her experience.

Another aspect of the book is Sherman's relationship with God, which is a complex and vacillating one. In some passages it almost seems as if she is referring to a lover who has betryaed her, and she is filled with sadness, anger, longing, and ultimately a love that she will not forsake. She does not, however, blindly accept "the will of God," instead demanding over and over, "where are you?" If God should be praised for the blessings he gave her, then he should also be held accountable for his apparent abandonment of his people.

To read this book is to explore memory, theodicy, religion, family, genocide, the human spirit, and will leave you saying its name.

Say the Name is a powerful and poignant account of a young woman's experience in Nazi imprisonment during WWII. After years of silence, Judith Sherman was compelled to come out and tell her story, not only for herself and her family, but for the millions of other who had no voice. The unnamed victims of human suffering in camps like Ravensbruck cannot be put away with the history books. They are people who were made to be things, but they were not things. Sherman describes in her prose and poetry how the life that they had known before the war melted away, and was replaced by a reality that terrorized, brutalized, and destroyed. This reality was the dehumanizing force of the Nazi regime.

I wonder how an author who is so modest with her prose, who even wrote that "words fail" to capture the "monumental horror" of the Holocaust, is able to to move the reader with her words with such remarkable ease. Her voice resonates with the child, the daughter, the mother, the friend, and the person who had to ask God, "Why?". Sherman's writing, and especially her poetry, are evocative and elegant for sure, but I think that it is the place that she is writing from that creates this feeling of "being there' with her. Her pain and the pain of those she names is human pain. Their loss is human loss. As people we have lost something by allowing evil like this to exist in the world. It doesn't have to.

Her tale is not one of Jewish suffering but human suffering and survival. She recalls the ways she resisted the forces that sought to destroy her. Sherman's life was never the name when the war was over, which is to say that the experience never ended. However, she is able to take her pain and wordlessness and make something that helps others understand. I thank her for that. Sherman's book would be good for students of all ages and particularly those interested in the stories and history of the Holocaust. I guarantee this courageous little book will move you no matter what you're looking at it for. Her connections with human suffering are particularly intense regarding family loss, motherhood, friendship, the struggle with divine over the existence of evil, and the loss of the "ordinary things" we take for granted when we're home.

Judith Sherman's Say the Name is a survivor's account of a teenage girl's struggle with God and humanity in Ravensbruck concentration camp during the Holocaust. Sherman, now a wife, mother and grandmother living in the United States, writes her memoir some 50 to 60 years after the Nazi's carried out their "Final Solution."

Sherman's poetry and prose in this book reflect a loss of people, places and things that make up the fabric of a person's life, culture and beliefs. She is, at turns, angry and bewildered. She demands an accounting for these atrocities. But ultimately Sherman's quest for survival and her insistence on remembering the names of women who were killed conveys a sense of humanity and even of hope. This is Sherman's first book, and she is not a polished writer. She writes in fragments and one has the sense of poetry scribbled on napkins over the years and then included in the memoir. Her book is all the stronger for this.

I read this about 6 years ago when it was assigned in one of my undergrad classes. There are enough online reviews for you to read about the plot and like. Rather I want to tell you how her voice has stuck with me. I think of her ability to see the slivering when everything is just gray, and her amazing capacity to keep going. Whenever I think I can't go on, this death/or lost/ or series of unfortunate events as shattered the very last of my will I remember her words. I highly recommend it. I regally give this as a gift, I know I'm not just giving someone a powerful story, but really I'm giving someone a packet of extra strength for when they need it most in life.

This is a well-written, quick read. Heda's 27 years of suffering - first at the hands of the Nazis & then under the communist regime in Czechoslovakia - is heart rending. It's a book that should be part of high school curriculums to raise awareness of what too many people had to endure in the middle of the last century. It would be much more effective than relying on a history textbook that deals only with the 'facts.'

I would recommend this book to anyone. Even if you think you don't like reading about history, you'll like this book. In fact, it is books like these that are the reason I love history so much, and why I'm majoring in it. It isn't about the politics or the wars or whatever else (although those are certainly important), it is the story of a woman trying to survive through a hell most of us cannot even imagine has existed on this earth, especially not in the last 50 years. Peoples' lives are what connect us to the past, and what make it relevant to the future. It gives a little meaning and heart behind all the dates and events that you have to memorize in class...make them more personal. And furthermore, you will be inspired by this woman. Her strength and character is admirable, to say the very least. Actually, I don't think even a fictional writer could invent a heroine more honorable than this one.

So please, read it. stories like these deserve to be shared.

it is a great book use in my world civ class, and highly recommmand by my professor and TAs.

Clive James, in "Cultural Amnsia' - his magesterial review of literature and totalitarianism - said: "Given thirty seconds to recommend a single book that might start a serious young student on the hard road to understanding of the political tragedies of the twentieth century, I would choose this one". It tells a remarkable personal tale of a Jewish girl in Prague caught up by the Nazis and going to Auschwitz, then her escape and return to her beloved Prague, and subsequent worse sufferings under the communist government in the 1950s and 1960s. Her husband was a high ranking government official but later was put on a show trial and killed.

"Under a Cruel Star" (also called "Prague Farewell" in some editions) is not as bleak as the story sounds. It is a slim volume of hope and understanding, written elegantly by a woman who later in life worked as a translator from English and finished her working life in the Harvard Law School library.

Wonderful gripping book! I couldn't put it down! So much history and so much strength in the Masin brothers and their group! I am proud to be a Masin (no close relation known). great job on the book!
DeAnn Masin

Despite her personal connection to the protagonists of the history, the author provides what seems to be a fairly unbiased accounting of events. Her closing notes regarding the impact in the politics and society of today's Czech Republic I found especially interesting. The book should be of interest to anyone looking at the particular events themselves or even more generally in the impact of the communist period on today's Republic.

Gauntlet brings to life a moment in history that seems to be forgotten, or never known, among today's youth. So few high school students know that Germany at one time was divided into East and West, that Czeckoslovakia was a unified country, and that the Cold War was an all too intrusive part of many people's lives. This book rectifies that. It is also a thriller impossible to put down.

Gauntlet is the true story of five dedicated anti-Communist young men whose epic journey and struggle in the 1950's could have altered the course of the Cold War in Europe. Though grounded heavily in historical testimony and evidence, Gauntlet reads like a novel, as it follows the group's fugitive attempt to deliver a message from a Czechoslovak general to U.S. authorities. An inspirational tale of courage, daring, and absolute commitment to ideals of freedom.

I could hardly put this book down. A loyal Czech father with a secret message throws down the gauntlet to his sons and they react with breathtaking action. This is a true story of incredibly daring young men who wre chased by the Communist Russian and East German Armies across East Germany. This book is based on five years of research by the daughter of one of the living survivors.

I am sixty year old woman. I was planning a trip to Europe this spring. I have wanted to visit the town that my grandparents came from in Slovakia all my life. I had been in Europe before, and realized that I needed to get to Slovakia before I got older. I researched Slovakia's history, economy and my lineage for months before I left. I just couldn't get up the nerve to go until I read Margarete's book, The Foreigner's Guide to Living to Slovakia.
I read blogs and emailed Margarete to build up my determination to travel to Slovakia. Even on the day I was to get the train from Vienna to the Tatra Mountains, I was still trying to convince myself that I could do it. I read her chapter on train travel again, but decided that even though I couldn't read or speak the language, I would go. Margarete's descrption of how to read the train ticket and travel by bus, got me on the train. I even read her book on the 6 hour ride to Spisska Nova Ves.
I had the time of my life. I met wonderful people.
I want to go back. I will! I will base my next European trip from Slovakia. I feel I can drive, or take public transportation to the North and the South of Slovakia.
I have never felt more safe. I enjoyed the food that I remembered Grandma making. I felt at home.
Thank you, Margarete

Written by Margarete Hurn, an American who has lived and worked in Slovakia for more than five years, The Foreigner's Guide to Living in Slovakia is a straightforward guide for travelers visiting this European nation for a few weeks or a few years. Chapters offer a brief overview of the Slovak people and their culture, legal matters such as applying for a visa or extended-stay permit, social and business customs, basics in adjusting to the local food and public transportation, recreational activities available, Slovak etiquette in both business and social circles, and much more. An absolute "must-have" for anyone preparing to visit Slovakia.

Did you know that Bratislava is considered one of the major centers of European Judaism? Or that CSA can fly directly from Prague to Zilina or Poprad? Are you up-to-snuff on Slovak cultural traditions? Quick then: what foods shouldn't you eat on New Years Day? This valuable guidebook to Slovakia was written by an English teacher who lived and worked there for 5 years. The author felt there was a dearth of info everyday living for non-natives in Slovakia, hence this 200-page guidebook. Broken down into chapters like Slovak History, Law, Folk Culture, Leisure, Food, Social Customs, it gives you little tidbits of info on just about everything you could imagine. Like any god travel guide, there are ample photos, maps & tables; over 100 websites are proffered as well. TFG is written in a clear, concise manner and all diacritical marks are in place. In the Transportation chapter, a copy of a typical bus schedule is printed with tips on reading it; later, Hurn goes into some detail on the VAT tax. "The Basics" chapter covers holidays, border crossings, currency & conversion equivalents (all info in TFG is current from May 2007). General words/Slovak phrases are provided, as well as a complete calendar of name days, an index and multiple weblinks. If castles are your thing, [...] contains info on about 250 Slovak castles. No subjects are shied away from: "The Tiso question" is handled evenly and fairly as is a subchapter on the Roma. The author even discusses the pro's and cons of living in a panelak such as is found in Petrazalka. This book is packed full of practical info and insiders tips that you won't find in a Frommers or Lonely Planet.

Preface: I've been to four western European countries (France, Italy, Belgium, Ireland), but only one Central European one (Czech Republic). By coincidence two of the people on my team are Slovaks, so I'm naturally interested in learning more about their country and culture. When I heard about The Foreigner's Guide To Living In Slovakia- I jumped at the chance to read it. These are the haphazard notes I took while reading it. (In the interest of full disclosure: the author is the wife of one of my team members, however I've never met her.)

Ch1: The Land and Its People
This chapter offers an overview of the country, people, language, economy, religion, housing, and popular recreation.


Ch2: History
I'm a product of the American educational system, so it was good to see a whole chapter devoted to history-- it was mostly new to me! Before traveling to the Czech Republic, I'm ashamed to admit I read Rick Steves' Prague book (it was the best rated and most up to date at the time). There were maybe a few pages on history, some of which I've since learned its debatable. In this book however, much thought has been given to remaining accurate and neutral on still sensitive topics, given this area's volatile past.


Ch3: The Basics
This chapter covers the things you should know prior to arriving in a foreign country, such as the various options for getting around from the most convenient/expensive, to the most time consuming/cheap. It was nice to see advice useful for anyone from the business traveller on the corporate charge card to the broke student, and everything between.

Also covered are various important facts, for example grocery stores may not supply the bags for your items. After an embarrassing event in Paris involving the attempted purchase of some bananas (you need to weigh and tag them yourself, I've since learned), I really appreciate these sorts of subtle details.


Ch4: The Law
Although Slovakia is known for its beer, did you know the law allows absolutely no blood alcohol level if your driving? Better read the other important bits in this chapter before your trip-- or you might be writing the next book in the series-- The Foreigner's Guide to Living in Slovak JAIL!


Ch5: Relocating and Settling In
This chapter has a nice breakdown of the 5 major neighborhoods of Bratislava- valuable stuff even if you're just a tourist curious what to expect from the city. And if you're looking to live there, you'll find it interesting to read about the odd laws, for example you're supposed to pay a tax if you have a TV or radio. (I wonder how they enforce that one...)


Ch6: Culture
I found it interesting to read that the young Slovaks embrace the old traditions, such as the regional dances and music, and continue to keep it alive (as evidenced by the book's cover.) This is quite the opposite from my experience of other places. However there are, ahem, "interesting", Slovak traditions that I'm surprised to read continue to this day. Apparently if you're a young girl and the boys like you, they whip you with willow branches and douse you in cold water. Thats if they *like* you! You can read why for yourself...


Ch7: Leisure
Slovakia is home to the part of Europe's longest cycling route (extending from Germany to Hungary), is home to six UNESCO world heritage sites, and is has tons of caves. Sweeeet.


Ch8: Food & Drink
Reading this chapter reminded me of my trip to Prague- if you eat out, expect lots of variety... of meat and starch. Although there are plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables available, for some reason they're just not served at most restaurants. This chapter describes what foods are available, and where. (I wish I read something similar for Prague beforehand-- I went crazy by day 3 of meat/starch 3 times a day.) There's also a thorough description of the Slovak beers, which can sometimes be cheaper than bottled water. Its making me thirsty just recounting it...

Ch9 and Ch10 Social Customs and Final Words of Advice
Rounding out the book are the last two chapters, on how not to stick your foot in your mouth or go crazy as a lonely expat in a foreign land.


Overall its a great book- easy to read and very informative. Highly recommended if you plan on visiting or living in Slovakia.

This is the most useful guide to shopping for contemporary Czech and Slovak glass in its countries of origin. I have recommended it to all of my glass club members. Amazon.com, get more copies!!!!!

Having purchased glass from several of the factories mentioned in the book, I must attest that the information displayed is quite accurate. I will be using this referance book to guide me to other factories of interest. The great thing about the book is the detail about finding some of these factories. I only wish that I would have had it available on my first trip.

This is a beautifully illustrated book which provides a complete tour of the most important glass producers in the Czech and Slovak Republics. Besides well written narratives about glass, its history and production techniques, the book provides important descriptions of the major artists with full colour pictures of some of their works. It is concise but well thought-out and is an important guide for the collector, the tourist, and anyone fascinated with beautiful glass. It is clearly the work of someone who loves and understands glass and who has taken great effort to share her passions. If you are interested in glass and are planning a trip to the region, it should be as important as any tour guide!

This is probably the best book I've seen on contemporary Czech glass. It explains all the triumphs and pitfalls the Czechs have experienced over the last century, and the exquisite glass they've produced nonetheless. It also gives valuable insights on contemporary Czech studio glass. A very valuable work.

Inspirational and entertaining. Julian recaptures the voice of a little boy and tells one of the great stories of WWII.

Julian Padowicz's perilous escape from Warsaw is an exciting adventure, made all the more engrossing because he conveys so much about his feelings and impressions of this time in his life. The young Julian, who seems at times wise beyond his years, has a wonderfully wry outlook on the varied circumstances in which he finds himself during the course of his journey. The author enables us to understand his doubts and fears, his joys and sorrows, and above all, his great need to connect with his mother. His story is truly a poignant and heart-warming chronicle.

Product received promptly and in good condition. I am very happy with your service.

Mother And Me: Escape From Warsaw 1939 by documentary flimmaker Julian Padowicz is the true story of a Jewish child who grew up estranged from his mother to the point of hating other Jews. Virtually ignored by his mother and raised by his Catholic governess Kiki -- who taught him that God didn't love Jews because of what they did to His Son and that the only way Julian could go to heaven was to become bapitized. Julian's world transformed forever when World War II came to Warsaw. Kiki had to return to her family; his stepfather joined the Polish army; and the mother who once barely made time for him assumed responsibility for raising him. Determined to provide for her son, Julian's mother cut in food lines and later, under Soviet occupation, befriended Russian officers for extra rations of food and fuel. In the winter of 1940 as conditions for survival deteriorated, Julian's mother brought him in a daring escape to Hungary on foot, through the Carpathian mountains. Mother And Me is an unforgettable memory of blood bonds being thicker than water, and a family love that burns most fiercely when family is threatened. Highly recommended.

This book was a pleasant surprise. It is large, so it makes a good lap book for reading aloud. The stories are similar to Grimm's. They are a refreshing break from today's "everybody is okay" line of fairy tales. These stories are short and pack a moral wallop - the good characters have all the typical traits of honesty and hard-work and in the end they are rewarded. The bad characters are greedy and cruel and in the end are duly punished. Each story is illustrated.

My only complaint is that while the first 2/3 of the book is nicely laid out - written in English with pictures on almost every page - the last 1/3 of the book is in Slovak with no pictures. It would have been better to have split text where English is on one half of the page and Slovak is on the other side (like old Bibles written in two languages)

Slovak Tales for Young and Old; Pavol Dobsinsky in English and Slovak, is a marvelous book..It is filled with wonderful folk tales. The illustrations are very nice too. I would recommend this book for children of all ages and especially for anyone with Slovak heritage..It is well worth the price...and brought many childhood memories back to me...

I'm slovak and I really enjoyed the original text included in this book. The tales are really for grown-ups too, because they are teaching us that the simplest things in life sometimes are the best ones.
A jump into the Slovak popolar culture with some magnificent illustrations.

Slovak Tales For Young And Old: Pavol Dobsinksy In English And Slovak is an engaging collection of tales derived from classic Slovakian literature, and imbued with tradition. Smoothly translated by Lucy Bednar into English for readers of all ages to enjoy, and featuring impressive illustrations by Martin Benka which enhance these colorful and vivacious fables and folklore, Slovak Tales For Young And Old is a welcome and much appreciated contribution to family, school, and community library Folklore, Fairytale & Mythology collections.

The Art of the Impossible is, indeed, a very good introduction to the political philosophy of a great leader. Every lecture and article contained in this volume holds fabulous, almost poetic passages, and offers insights into the difficulties of leading a nation away from the physical and psychological devastation of communism. On some occasions Mr. Havel looks at his own position from a critical point of view, something we don't see very often in this kind of work.

This is a rather optimistic book, and every person who aspires to making our world a better - and safer - place for everyone, should definitely read it. It does not, however, provide us with solutions, but this is not what this work was intended for in the first place. What it does is identify the areas of politics we ought to concentrate on. The passages in which he argues for an increased participation of "intellectuals" in politics is particularly enlightening.

A commendable collection of lectures and essays, beautifully translated, which offers us a glimpse of a truly admirable man.

The essays and speeches contained in this book provide an excellent introduction to Vaclav Havel, one of the most intelligent and conscientious political figures of this century. His discussions about democracy, forgiveness, the future of the former Soviet Union, the future of the Czech Republic and other themes are thoughtfully composed and eloquently expressed. No review that I can write can do justice to this man's incredible vision for his country, our world, and our future.

I hope Havel's own words (he is one of the few presidents who writes his own speeches, consistently with his life motto "living in the truth") will inspire you to buy and read "The Art of Impossible" and other books written by this humble and couragoues man. From Havel's writings one can learn much about history, politics, philosophy,psychology and art/theatre. Moreover, everyone reading Havel's works with an open mind and heart will be challenged to reflect on his/her own place in this world.

"For forty years on this day you heard, from my predecessors, variations on the same theme: how our country flourished, how many million tons of steel we produced, how happy we all were,
how we trusted our government, and what bright perspectives were unfolding before us. I assume you did not propose me for this office so that I, too, would lie to you. (New Year's Address to the Nation, Prague, January 1, 1990)

"But this is still not the main problem. The worst thing is that we live in a contaminated moral environment. We fell morally ill because we got used to saying something different from what we thought. We learned not to believe in anything, to ignore each other, to care only for ourselves. Concepts such as love, friendship, compassion, humility and forgiveness lost their
depth and dimension, and for many of us they came to represent only psychological pecularities, or to resemble long-lost greetings from the ancient times, a little ridiculous in the era of commuters and spaceships. ...When I talk about contaminated moral atmosphere, I am not talking just about the gentlemen who eat organic vegetables and do not look out of the planes windows, I am talking about all of us. We had all become used to the totalitarian system and accepted it as an unalterable fact of life, and thus we helped to perpetuate it. In other words, we are all-though naturally to differing extents-responsible for the operation of the totalitarian machinery. None of us is just its victim: we are all also its cocreators. (New Year's Address to the Nation, Prague, January 1, 1990)

"...we must accept this legacy as a sin we committed against ourselves. If we accept it as such, we will understand that it is up to us all, and up to us alone, to do something about it. We must not blame the previous rulers for everything, not only because it would be untrue but also because it could blunt the duty each of us faces today, that is, the obligation to act independently, freely,reasonably, and quickly. ...Freedom and democracy require participation and therefore responsible action from us all. (New Year's Address to the Nation, Prague, January 1, 1990)

"We agree that the basic prerequisite for a genuine friendship between our nations is truth, a truth that is always expressed, no matter how hard." (The Visit of German President Richard von
Weizacker, Prague)

"Interests of all kinds-personal, selfish, state, national, group, and if you like, company interests-still considerably outweigh genuinely common and global interests. We are still under the sway of the destructive and thoroughly vain belief that man is the pinnacle of creation, and not just a part of it, and that therefore everything is permitted to him. There are still many who say they are concerned not for themselves but for the cause, while they act demonstrably in their own interests
and not for the cause at all. We are destroying the planet that was entrusted to us. We still close our eyes to the growing social, ethnic, and cultural conflicts in the world. From time to time we say that the anonymous megamachinery we have created for ourselves no longer serves us but,rather, has enslaved us, yet we fail to do anything about it. In other words, we still don't know how to put morality ahead of politics, science and economics. We are still incapable of understanding that the only genuine core of all our actions-if they are to be moral-is responsibility. Responsibility to something higher than my family, my country, my firm, my success. Responsibility to the order of Being, where all our actions are indelibly recorded and where, and only where, they will be properly judged. The
interpreter or mediator between us and this higher authority is what is traditionally referred to as human conscience. If I subordinate my political behavior to this imperative, I can't go far wrong. If on the contrary, I am not guided by this voice, not even ten presidential schools with two thousand of the best political scientists in the world could help me. (A Joint Session of the U.S. Congress, Washington, D.C., February 21, 1990)

After reading "The Art of Impossible" I would also recommend the following writings:

Havel, Vaclav. Open Letters: Selected Writings 1965-1990. Translated by Paul Wilson. New York:Alfred A. Knopf, 1991.

Sire, James W. Václav Havel: the intellectual conscience of international politics: an introduction, appreciation, and critique. Downers Grove: IVP, 2001.

Franz Kafka wrote "A book ought to be an ice pick to break up the frozen sea within us." Indeed, Hurka's journey to honor his father, learn of his father's heroism and suffering, and to learn about himself, was a journey into the interior chambers of the human heart that possesses vulnerability and passion. It is a book that is capable of thawing the frozen parts of us. I learned about the valor and pride of the people of the Czech Republic during the Communist reign, as well as the story of one man's heroism. The author wrote so beautifully, I am enticed to someday visit this part of the world.

Joseph Hurka has written a very touching memoir of his father's valiant fight against fascism in his home country. This rings especially poignant in the troubled times now facing America. I purchased this book the Saturday before the vile terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center. I began reading it, thinking it was a wonderful memoir of a bygone era. Now, post-attacks, upon my finishing this book I have a renewed sense of just how precious freedom is and what so many other people have been willing to do to secure it. Bravo to Hurka Senior, for all the proud fighting he did to do his part to keep the hope of freedom alive; we owe him and all those like him a great debt of honor. And also bravo to his son, this book's author, for writing such a powerful story of real heroism so well and so vividly. Truly, a joy to read, and in times such as these a must-read. I highly recommend this book.

Mr. Hurka tells the story of his father, a hero, with the rhythm of a poet. Unlike many sons who have written about their fathers, this isn't about that author. Mr. Hurka allows his father's amazing life to shine through his own talent as a writer and lets the reader get to know a true patriot hero. With his lyrical tones, the reader can only hope they will be allowed to know more of Mr. Hurka himself in a future book.

Elegant, meditative, and special, Patrica Hampl's memoir of growing up in St. Paul and visiting her ancestral home of Prague deservedly won her a Macarthur genius grant, and remains a classic of its genre. When it was published in the early 80s, the gorgeous Bohemian captial of Prague was sheltered from the American line of vision by the Iron Curtain, and much less familiar to American readers than it is today; Hampl's book details her trip in the 70s to that loveliest of cities to visit her family's origins and learn something about her place in the world. But the book is also a beautiful meditation on another exceptionally romantic, and often still neglected, city, Hampl's hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota. Stunningly situated on the high bluffs overlooking a chasmic portion of the Mississippi, the home of F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Empire Builder James J. Hill, St. Paul has declined in cultural significance over the decades, overshadowed by its younger and more prosperous twin city across the river. But Hampl lovingly evokes what it was like to live in this atmospheric city of decaying Victorian mansions overlooking the downtown from the heights of Summit Avenue, both as a grandchild of Czech immigrants working as servants for the enmansed and as a young woman striking out as a student and a writer. It's an unusual, romantically-staurated memoir.

Being of eastern European descent, I found Hampl's book revealing and intriguing as it spoke of what my grandparents often alluded to when referring to "the old country."
I felt myself travelling with her, trying to find out something, anything, about my roots.

I first read Patricia Hampl's I Could Tell You Stories when I took a 1st person essay writing class, and all of us in the class became instant fans. Her book provoked endless discussions about the reliability (or Unreliability) of memory and the role it plays in memoir writing. Hampl's A Romantic Education allows us to continue following her down her chosen path as she returns to Prague in search of her heritage during the gray pall of socialism. This edition of A Romantic Education is a reissue following the Velvet Revolution and is full of richly nuanced detail that we have come to expect from Hampl. It's an elegant piece of writing that allows us to taste and dabble in the trickling stream of history running beneath the surface of the everlasting riddle of personal memory.