Revolution with a Human Face

In this social and cultural history of Czechoslovakia's "gentle revolution," James Krapfl shifts the focus away from elites to ordinary citizens who endeavored to establish a new, democratic political culture.

James Krapfl is Assistant Professor of History at McGill University.

Krapfl's research is supported by extensive analysis of documents from the citizens’ associations that began forming in each region immediately following November 17. He conducted research not only in the larger state archives but also in more than two dozen regional archives throughout the Czech Republic and Slovakia.... The monograph presents a systematic analysis of these materials that offers a previously unseen picture of how Czechoslovak citizens engaged in the revolution. His findings are extremely interesting, illustrating the local nature and diverse concerns of citizens in each town and region and capturing the idealism of participants.... Revolution with a Human Face is recommended for regional specialists and scholars of social movements and revolutionary periods as well as graduate and upper-division undergraduates studying this history.

P.W. Knoll:

In this study of Czechoslovakia's gentle revolution of 1989 (to use the originally applied phrase)Krapfl (McGill Univ.Canada) seeks to focus upon the experiences of ordinary citizens rather than political elites. He uses an impressively large range of documents along with the products of an unregulated press to present a narrative and analysis that is week by weeksometimes day by dayfor the months between November 1989 and the end of the Czechoslovak federation in 1992.... Krapfl is especially good at showing developments in all regions of the country and in provincial townsfactoriesand farms. He also shows how difficult it is to democratize government and how events lead to unintended consequences. A helpful chronology of events enables one to trace the welter of detail in this period.

Geoffrey Brown:

In this engaging book James Krapfl argues persuasively that average Czechoslovak citizens have been neglected in Western studies of the revolutionary events of 1989, with analysis of the writings and dissident intellectuals in Prague having been considered representative of the ideas and values of the revolution in all of Czechoslovakia. Krapfl proposes that the motivations for protests in 1989 were not geographically uniform and thus he aims to look closely at how the momentous events were experienced outside the capitals of Prague and Bratislava in towns and villages across the country, using archival material from a broad base of different localities.

Jacob Ari Labendz:

I read Krapfl's book with excitement andadmiration. Revolution with a Human Face is an excellent work, the type which launches further research. Krapfl has radically changed how we must thinkabout the Czechoslovak revolution of 1989 by placing the people at its heart.He has further cast into relief the character of revolutionary processes and hasfound worthy insight therein into the dissolution of Czechoslovakia.

Carol Skalnik Leff, University of Illinois, author of Elite Transformation in Post-Communist Europe:

The innovative and compelling Revolution with a Human Face is original both in conception and source material and is likely to be an instant classic. James Krapfl reconstructs the day-to-day evolution of thinking about regime change at the grassroots level. He draws on a massive and intensive search of the documentary ephemera of the revolutionary period to 'get out of Prague.' This allows him to trace the countrywide mobilization in support of the Velvet/Gentle Revolution that led to the collapse of communism in Czechoslovakia in 1989.

Michal Pullmann, Charles University Prague:

In this fascinating account of Czechoslovakia's 'Gentle Revolution,’ James Krapfl brings the people to the fore. He mobilizes powerful evidence to illuminate their ideals and fears, their hopes and expectations, their willingness to negotiate and to sacrifice, and finally their disappointments and conflicts. This lucid study enhances our understanding of the transformations of civic political culture that took place in Czechoslovakia from November 1989 until the dissolution of the federation.

Hugh L. Agnew, The George Washington University, author of The Czechs and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown:

Revolution with a Human Face is imaginative, original, and thoroughly grounded on a truly admirable range and scope of primary documents. James Krapfl succeeds in moving his exploration of the 1989 revolution in Czechoslovakia out of the capitals and away from the elite intellectuals, politicians, and dissidents who dominate most accounts of the events. His approach from the bottom up will force us to rethink how we understand what actually happened in the 'Velvet Revolution,' and after.