Czech Republic

Kafka's City of Prague and Czech Literature

Kazuya Harue's "Spring in Prague" Synopsis and Comments - Read this and you'll love Prague!

'And yet it is beautiful. Why is Prague so beautiful!" In this book, you can experience the world of "Why is Prague so beautiful? This book is guaranteed to make you fall in love with Prague. If you love Prague, you will love Prague even more. Please read this book!

I also think it is a very good piece of work that gives us an insight into the situation in Prague at the time.

Kafka's City of Prague and Czech Literature

Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" Synopsis and Comments - To understand the atmosphere of communist rule after the Prague Spring.

I decided to read this work in order to get a feel for the atmosphere of Prague after the "Prague Spring". This work gives a realistic picture of the hardships that Prague's intellectuals had to endure. The author's analysis of the Soviet domination of the city, especially from the middle of the novel, is also presented in the novel. This is quite powerful and breathtaking.

Kafka's City of Prague and Czech Literature

Joseph Kudelka, The Prague Invasion 1968 - A masterpiece of photography! How did the citizens of Prague face the tanks?

This book is a collection of photographs by photographer Joseph Kudelka documenting the Soviet invasion of Prague.
Large numbers of tanks and fully armed soldiers stormed the beautiful city of Prague and took control of the city by force.
This brought the Prague Spring, which sought freedom from oppression, to a complete end.
This film is a realistic experience of the tense situation in Prague.

Kafka's City of Prague and Czech Literature

Ten Years of Solidarity: Poland, Crushed Reforms, and Czechoslovakia" - Recommended for understanding the flow of the Prague Spring.

This book is dedicated to the situation in Poland at the end of the Cold War and the Prague Spring, with just half of each discussed in the 270 pages of the book. There are surprisingly few books that provide more than 100 pages of commentary on the Prague Spring alone, so we were very grateful for this substantial commentary.

Learning from the History, Thought and Literature of the Cold War World

Timothy Snyder, "Tyranny: 20 Lessons from 20th Century History" - Reading recommendations from a world-class historian.

We must learn from history. This book advises us on where to actually start in order to do so.

In this article, I would like to introduce one of the chapters that caught my attention, "Make Your Own Words Count". It talks about the significance of reading, and it was the part that left the biggest impression on me!

Learning from the History, Thought and Literature of the Cold War World

V. Seveschen, "The Eastern European Revolution 1989: The Collapse of the Soviet Empire" - A great book to learn about the history of the collapse of the communist bloc!

Seveschen's works are just easy to read, and they are all great books that lead us to interesting yet deep insights.

This book looks at society at the end of the Cold War from a large global perspective. It is also a masterful book that analyzes the process of its collapse in chronological order and also highlights the interrelationships among the different countries. This is an excellent work. A gem that you will want to read over and over again!

Learning from the History, Thought and Literature of the Cold War World

V. Sebeschen, "The Hungarian Revolution 1956" - Recommended to learn about the major events in Eastern Europe during the Cold War that shocked the world!

Victor Sebeschen's books are characterized by a narrative style of storytelling. It is not just a list of events, but a hidden story and deep analysis that draws the reader in. It's just interesting! That's all I can say.

This book is no doubt the work of such a Victor Sebeschen. It is extremely interesting.

In this work, the tense situation in Hungary and the course of the revolution unfolds in a documentary style. Reading the book is like watching a movie, with a sense of urgency and realism. The book is also richly illustrated with photographs, which give a clear picture of the situation at that time.

Learning from the History, Thought and Literature of the Cold War World

The Iron Curtain: The Ruin of Eastern Europe, 1944-56 - Recommended for learning about Eastern Europe under the postwar Soviet regime!

What surprised me when I read this book was that Soviet domination was not completed in an instant after the war, but proceeded through various processes in a cursory manner.

It was not a simple matter of the Soviet Union gaining effective control over Eastern Europe and completing the Iron Curtain.

I had no idea that the governance had taken so many twists and turns. The book brings up a series of very interesting facts.

This is a wonderful book to learn about how the Soviet Union brought other countries under its control. I highly recommend it.

Learning from the History, Thought and Literature of the Cold War World

O.A. Westad, "Cold War World History" - A recommended general history of the world during the Cold War.

What surprised me when I read this book was that from the end of World War II, when the Cold War began in earnest, to the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was a constant struggle going on somewhere in the world. And these conflicts were so dangerous that they could have turned into all-out wars at any time.

When I thought of the Cold War, I thought of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and it was a real surprise to me that there were many, many other crises of all-out war besides this incident.

In Japan, we tend to think that after World War II, the war was over and the world was at peace, but this is not true at all.

ChristianityDostoevsky and Christianity

Justo González, "History of Christianity" - A recommended reference book for learning the general framework of Christian history!

The nuance of "Christianity is absolutely right and the pagans are wrong" is not present in this book in the first place. It is felt that the book tries to be as objective as possible in its viewpoint of why the events happened historically.

Also, this book is very interesting to read in the first place. Textbooks on the history of Christianity tend to conjure up images of stiff, difficult books, but Justo González's "History of Christianity" is different in more ways than one.