In honor of the 2018 centennial of Czech independence, philosopher of law Jiří Přibán and award-winning Czech journalist Karel Hvížďala took the opportunity to examine key moments in Czech history from the ninth century to the twenty-first. Covering such a broad span of time allowed them to look into the past and question how Czechs have viewed their history at different points—and what that means for the Czech present and future. As contemporary politics drift closer towards totalitarianism, historiography from scholars and thinkers who experienced twentieth-century totalitarian regimes is more important than ever. In their spirited dialogue, Hvížďala and Přibán raise and explore these crucial issues, sharing subjects normally reserved for university seminars with the broader public.

Jiří Přibáň is professor of law at Cardiff University, United Kingdom. He is the author of numerous books in Czech and English, including, most recently, The Defence of Constitutionalism: Or the Czech Question in Post-National Europe, also published by Karolinum Press. Karel Hvížďala is a journalist and essayist. He has published more than thirty books of interviews, as well as written twenty radio plays, five novels, five books on the media, and two memoirs. Stuart Hoskins is a translator of Czech and Slovak into English.

— Milan Kundera, author of "The Unbearable Lightness of Being"

— Jacques Rupnik, Sciences Po

— Petr Pithart, Czech politician and signatory of Charter 77

— Times Higher Education