The book presents a detailed biography of Alexander Dub¿ek, the icon of the ¿Czecho-Slovak Spring¿ in 1968. It aims to explain his decisions and intellectual development in the context of the turbulent development of the 20th century Central Europe. Dub¿k¿s importance went beyond Czechoslovak borders. His vision of the ¿socialism with the human face¿ secured him worldwide fame. At the end of the 1960s, he became a global symbol of the changes desired on both sides of the Iron Curtain. The short time of his leadership brought him and his country at the forefront of the global politics. The invasion of the Warsaw Pact into Czechoslovakia ended his political career and brought him 20 years of isolation. However, Dub¿k¿s popularity and infl uence in the European Left remained unchanged.

Miroslav Londák
studied history at the Comenius University in Bratislava. He is the Head of Department of the Contemporary History at the Institute of History at the Slovak Academy of Sciences. He is an author of books and articles dealing with the economic development of postwar Czechoslovakia and the reform process of the "Czechoslovak Spring" in 1968.

Slavomír Michálek
studied history at the Comenius University in Bratislava. He is the director of the Institute of History at the Slovak Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on the Czechoslovak relation with the USA in the second half of the 20th century, personalities of Slovak diplomacy and the Slovak democratic exile of the postwar era.

Alexander Dub¿ek biography - Czechoslovak Prague Spring 1968 - Socialism with a human face - Soviet Union - Dissent - Warsaw pact Invasion - Leonid Brezhnev - Normalization - Communist Party of Czechoslovakia - Eastern Bloc - Soviet Union - Velvet Revolution