This study of T.G. Masaryk deals with his pre-1914 career as a professor and persistent dissenter. For three decades he was a constant and unrelenting critic of conventional wisdom, established institutions and customary practices in Bohemia and Austria-Hungary. At every stage he was a radical dissident in all questions of public life as well as in private matters: religion, the nationality problem the place of women, labour and the social question, parliament and government in the Monarchy, its foreign affairs and foreign policy institutions, education, the courts and legal system, the Catholic Church, and clericalism, the university establishment, Czech politics and Czech political parties, the interpretations of Czech history, and anti-semitism.

This study of T.G. Masaryk (1850-1937) deals with his pre-1914 career as a professor and permanent dissenter. For three decades he was a constant and unrelenting critic of conventional wisdom, established institutions and customary practices in Bohemia and Austria-Hungary. At every stage he was a radical dissident in all questions of public life as well as in private matters: religion, the nationality problem, the place of women, labour and the social question, parliament and government in the monarchy, its foreign affairs and foreign policy institutions, education, the courts and legal system, the Catholic church, clericalism, the university establishment, Czech politics, Czech political parties, the interpretations of Czech history and anti-semitism.

The twelve essays in this book – by scholars from the U.S., France, Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic – offer new transnational perspectives in transatlantic historical, literary, and cultural studies. They explore the special role of American and European intellectuals as agents of transatlantic cultural transfer, and examine the mechanisms and instruments through which artists, writers and intellectuals communicated across oceans and national borders, in the half century between 1914 and 1964. Their focus is on transatlantic networks and the instruments of culture through which such networks become operative as sites of cross-cultural exchange, circulation and interaction: magazines, cafés, publishing houses, book fairs, agents, translators, and mediators – and last but not least, transatlantic personal friendships. Contending that the dynamics of transatlantic cultural transfer need to be understood as reciprocal and multi-directional, they also exemplify the shift within transatlantic intellectual history from a traditional concern with European-U.S. relations to a multidirectional, triangular exploration of cultural, political and intellectual relations between Europe, the United States, and Latin America.

Battle for Castle examines the conscious creation and dissemination of Czechoslovakia's reputation as Eastern Europe's "native democracy" by its country's leaders.

In the late 19th century, T. G. Masaryk presented his national programme. This vision of modern Czech society rested on the ideals of humanity, thus infusing the national ethos with a universal dimension. The significance of T. G. Masaryk's thought is investigated by current Czech thinkers in this volume.

Ethnic Nationalism and the Fall of Empires is a wide-ranging comparative study of the origins of today's ethnic politics in East Central Europe, the former Russian empire and the Middle East. Centred on the First World War Era, Ethnic Nationalism highlights the roles of historical contingency and the ordeal of total war in shaping the states and institutions that supplanted the great multinational empires after 1918. It explores how the fixing of new political boundaries and the complex interplay of nationalist elites and popular forces set in motion bitter ethnic conflicts and political disputes, many of which are still with us today. Topics discussed include: * the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian empire * the ethnic dimension of the Russian Revolution and Soviet state building * Nationality issues in the late Ottoman empire * the origins of Arab nationalism * ethnic politics in zones of military occupation * the construction of Czechoslovak and Yugoslav identities Ethnic Nationalism is an invaluable survey of the origins of twentieth-century ethnic politics. It is essential reading for those interested in the politics of ethnicity and nationalism in modern European and Middle Eastern history.

Translated by Dora Round Tomas Garrigue Masaryk (1850-1937) was a philosophy professor who became the founder and first president of Czechoslovakia (1918-1935) and was a leading figure in world affairs between the wars. Capek, author of 'War with the Newts', and Czechoslovakia's most prominent writer during these years, interviewed Masaryk at great length and produced this volume that tells Masaryk's unique story.