More than any other public figure, VOclav Havel has reflected on the opportunities and dilemmas facing humankind as a result of the Communism's collapse. His life serves as an example of responsible and moral action, even at the cost of much personal suffering. In the first book to bring together Havel's life and work, James Pontuso examines the Czech president's political philosophy. Pontuso argues that Havel's life as a dissident and political leader, his political writings, and his plays are part of a whole and must be understood as intimately connected to one another. In this engaging work, Pontuso skillfully explores these connections and explains Havel's prescriptions for political life.

"[This] is the best book-length treatment of Havel's oeuvre (an integration of the writings and the political activity) that I know of." - Slavic and East European Journal

"In this intellectual biography, Havel emerges as a kind of matrioshka doll: a politician inside a dissident, inside a playwright, inside a philosopher. That makes the outer shell commanding, and Pontuso gives full vent to an exploration of the Czech leader's moral philosophy and philosophy of fundamental meaning, weaving throughout his debt to and dissent from Martin Heidegger." - Foreign Affairs

"Pontuso deserves praise for showing how Havel corrects and breaks with his intellectual influences (primarily Martin Heidegger), mounts a powerful defense of common sense against existentialism and postmodernism, and addresses perennial themes from the canon of political philosophy. Pontuso does a masterful job explicating Havel's philosophy, but he also highlights how mush faith Havel places in culture and moral rhetoric as opposed to political institutions and party politics." - Society