Václav Havel has played a major role in the cultural and political life of Czechoslovakia-and, after the breakup of that country in 1993, of the Czech Republic-throughout the second half of the twentieth century. During the Stalinist oppression of the 1950s Havel and some like-minded colleagues made systematic contact with major figures in Czech literature and the arts who were ostracized by the communist regime. In the 1960s Havel was active in the movement of artists and writers whose efforts culminated in 1968 in the liberal revolution known as the Prague Spring. At that time Havel wrote significant plays in the genre of absurdist drama that shed light on the nature of the communist system. During the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968 he spoke out against the aggression in radio broadcasts. As a result of the cultural and political clampdown after the invasion, Havel and several hundred...