In this stunning biography, Josette Baer re-traces the eventful life of the Slovak politician Vavro Srobár, the principal figure in the implementation of Czechoslovak democracy in Slovakia. Spanning from his student days and his fight for Slovak civil rights in Upper Hungary via his ministerial positions during the First Czechoslovak Republic to his active resistance against German fascism, Baer's research paints a most comprehensive picture. Based on rich archive material available to the English-reading public for the first time, Baer shows how Srobár's political thought and activities shaped the turbulent history of Czechoslovakia in the first half of the 20th century. Offering unique insights into the political past of a country whose history remains largely under-researched, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in the region.

Josette Baer, born in 1966, is adjunct professor of political theory with a focus on Central and Eastern European political thought at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Zurich (UZH), Switzerland. She has published several books and peer-reviewed studies about Czechoslovak, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian, Russian, and Macedonian political thought and politics.