{"title":"Václav Havel Series","description":"\u003cp\u003eExplore the profound and thought-provoking works within the Václav Havel Series. Discover insightful essays and plays delving into politics, philosophy, and the human spirit, perfect for readers seeking intellectual stimulation.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"seven-letters-to-melin-book-josef-safark-9788024643755","title":"Seven Letters to Melin","description":"Josef Šafařík’s Seven Letters to Melin is an exploration of man’s alienation from nature—and from himself—in the modern technological age. Conceived as a series of letters to Melin, an engineer who believes in the value of science and technical progress, the book grows skeptical of such endeavors, while also examining mankind’s search for meaning in life. To help uncover this meaning, Šafařík posits a dichotomy between spectator and participant. The role of participant is played by Robert, an artist who has committed suicide. The spectator, embodied by the scientist Melin, views the world from a distance and searches for explanations, while the artist-participant creates the world through his own active engagement.     Through these exchanges, Šafařík argues for the primacy of artistic creativity over scientific explanation, of truth over accuracy, of internal moral agency over an externally imposed social morality, and of personal religious belief over organized church-going. Šafařík is neither anti-scientific nor anti-rational; however, he argues that science has limited power, and he rejects the idea of science that denies meaning and value to what cannot be measured or calculated.     Šafařík’s critiques of technology, the wage economy, and increased professionalization make him an important precursor to the philosophy of deep ecology. This book was also a major influence on the Czech president Václav Havel; in this new translation it will find a fresh cohort of readers interested in what makes us human.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49737104032017,"sku":"NGR9788024643755","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/8024643758.jpg?v=1750776052"},{"product_id":"rusukrainerussia-book-martin-c-putna-9788024635804","title":"RusUkraineRussia","description":"An outspoken opponent of pro-Russian, authoritarian, and far-right streams in contemporary Czech society, Martin C. Putna received a great deal of media attention when he ironically dedicated the Czech edition of Rus–Ukraine–Russia to Miloš Zeman—the pro-Russian president of the Czech Republic. This sense of irony, combined with an extraordinary breadth of scholarly knowledge, infuses Putna’s book.  Examining key points in Russian cultural and spiritual history, Rus–Ukraine–Russia is essential reading for those wishing to understand the current state of Russia and Ukraine—the so-called heir to an “alternative Russia.” Putna uses literary and artistic works to offer a rich analysis of Russia as a cultural and religious phenomenon: tracing its development from the arrival of the Greeks in prehistoric Crimea to its invasion by “little green men” in 2014; explaining the cultural importance in Russ of the Vikings as well as Pussy Riot; exploring central Russian figures from St. Vladimir the Great to Vladimir Putin.  Unique in its postcolonial perspective, this is not merely a history of Russia or of Russian religion. 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The essay plunges the reader into the pivotal time of the Velvet Revolution and provides valid explanations for the grassroots causes of the old regime’s downfall, examining the private aspirations and strategies of highly disparate groups of nameless social actors of the old regime that eventually sapped almost everyone of any interest in keeping the regime afloat.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51328226459921,"sku":"CIN802465315XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/802465315X.jpg?v=1751417208"},{"product_id":"restoration-of-order-book-milan-simecka-9788024658421","title":"The Restoration of Order","description":"This collection of Cold War essays and reflections enthralls any reader seeking a pointed dissection of the Soviet style of government and thinking.   In an engaging style, not lacking in irony and detachment, Milan Šimečka describes the process of restoring order and its result—so-called real socialism—in a brilliant analysis of the “normalization” regime in Czechoslovakia that came to power after the Soviet-led invasion that crushed the Prague Spring of 1968. These poignant reflections and essays coincided with Šimečka’s first-hand experience of the consequences of the time’s political and cultural purges.    This second edition of Cold War classics, first written between 1975 and 1977, with a new preface from Martin Šimečka and afterword from Jonathan Bolton, highlights chilling parallels with contemporary political developments and current civic and ethical questions.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51629657293073,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51629657948433,"sku":"NGR9788024658421","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/8024658429.jpg?v=1779962913"},{"product_id":"after-the-invasion-book-marie-cern-9788024657875","title":"After the Invasion","description":"Analyzes the historical significance of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.    This book addresses different aspects of the Soviet army’s twenty-year presence in Czechoslovakia between 1968 and 1991. 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In this context, it points out the contradictory logic that framed the mutual coexistence: the official policy of friendship on the one hand and the counter-intelligence protection of Soviet military premises on the other. Marie Cerná records the traces that the presence of the Soviet army left in the collective memory and examines the circumstances of its departure from the country in 1990 and 1991, which began immediately after the change of the political regime. She presents the long-term presence of the Soviet army as a fundamentally political and politicized matter, which was first the subject of power controversies and later of propaganda and intentional manipulation.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51630956511505,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51630956675345,"sku":"NGR9788024657875","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/8024657872.jpg?v=1778320341"},{"product_id":"architects-of-long-change-book-michal-kopecek-9788024661179","title":"Architects of Long Change","description":"A thorough retort to the idea that the West led the transition from communism to liberal democracy.  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This book was conceived in wartime, and war stands at its center. It proceeds through an analysis of cultural phenomena and processes that, in one way or another, originated in Russia and bear on the present situation—regardless of where their actors may now reside.  Through a series of case studies, The Russian Archipelago at War Against Ukraine traces how war has entered the realm of art—literature, the visual arts, theater, film, and beyond—and examines the ways in which culture itself becomes a participant in war. What emerges are narratives of resistance and protest, of persecution and prohibition, and emergent forms of underground, but also postures of indifference, resignation, and compliance, including overt loyalty to and support for the ideology and practice of war, its perpetrators, and its objectives.  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