{"product_id":"disturbing-the-peace-a-conversation-with-karel-huizdala-9780679734024","title":"Disturbing the Peace: A Conversation with Karel Huizdala","description":"Although in many ways this book stands as an informal autobiography of the playwright turned statesman, these eloquent and often witty interviews do much more than just recapitulate how Vaclav Havel helped transform Czechoslovakia into a democracy. Havel gives insights into Czech history, the social and political roles of art, and a statement of the values underlying recent events in Eastern Europe. A national bestseller.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eVáclav Havel\u003c\/b\u003e was born in Czechoslovakia in 1936. Among his plays, those best known in the West are \u003ci\u003eThe Garden Party\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Memorandum\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eLargo Desolato, Temptation\u003c\/i\u003e, and three one-act plays, \u003ci\u003eAudience\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePrivate View\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eProtest\u003c\/i\u003e. He is a founding spokesman of Charter 77 and the author of many influential essays on the nature of totalitarianism and dissent. In 1979 he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for his involvement in the human rights movement. Out of this imprisonment came his book of letters to his wife, \u003ci\u003eLetters to Olga \u003c\/i\u003e(1981). In 1989 he helped to found the Civic Forum, the first legal opposition movement in Czechoslovakia in 40 years; in December 1989 he was elected president of Czechoslovakia; and in 1994 became the first president of the independent Czech Republic. His memoir, \u003ci\u003eTo the Castle and Back\u003c\/i\u003e, was published in 2007. He died in 2011 at the age of 75.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50514299650322,"sku":"9780679734024","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_cbc15fc4-029b-44a2-acb6-6be72e557500.jpg?v=1730978579","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/disturbing-the-peace-a-conversation-with-karel-huizdala-9780679734024","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}