Josette Baer Books

Focusing on the Slovak National Uprising of 1944, this book explores a pivotal yet under-researched aspect of WWII history. Set against the backdrop of Slovakia's alliance with Nazi Germany, it reveals how the uprising reflected the populace's resistance to the regime's ideology. Through detailed analysis, it highlights the significance of the event in demonstrating the desire for freedom and the complexities of national identity during a tumultuous period.

Exploring the intersection of film and political thought, this collection of seven essays by Josette Baer provides a unique analysis of notable works like The Best of Enemies, The Lost Daughter, Breaking Bad, and Better Call Saul. Baer's interdisciplinary approach weaves together politics, philosophy, and cinema, offering fresh insights into how these narratives reflect and shape political discourse. This groundbreaking publication is the first of its kind, making a significant contribution to the understanding of film as a medium for political expression.

The book explores the divergent paths of Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Bulgaria towards EU membership compared to Croatia, Macedonia, and Serbia, despite their shared history under communist rule. It examines the political, economic, and social factors that influenced these outcomes, providing insights into the complexities of European integration and the challenges faced by the Balkan states. Through this analysis, the volume sheds light on the broader implications of post-communist transitions in the region.

The biography delves into the remarkable life of Vavro Srobár, a key player in establishing Czechoslovak democracy in Slovakia. It chronicles his journey from advocating for Slovak civil rights as a student in Upper Hungary to holding ministerial roles during the First Czechoslovak Republic. The narrative also highlights his courageous resistance against German fascism, showcasing Baer's extensive research that offers a thorough understanding of Srobár's impact on Slovak history.

This volume presents an overview of the political and economic developments in Eastern and South Eastern Europe in the years 2000 to 2005. Unlike the Central European states that achieved EU membership in 2004 and 2007, the countries in this volume, Bulgaria being the exception, share but one characteristic: diversity. One could call the phenomenon of the region’s variety and diversity the Eastern European pluralism of development . The essays present detailed analyses of the region’s main problems: corruption and bribery on all levels of society; a lack of transparency of state-business relations; a distinct disinterest in international critique or, rather, a distinct insistence on sovereignty and the refusal to adapt to European humanitarian standards of ethnic and religious tolerance. The essays are based on unique source material from the countries under scrutiny.

Alexander Dubček is well-known, so one might think; nothing new can be written about him. Is this true? Dubček is the symbol of the Czechoslovak attempt to reform communism that gained worldwide admiration in 1968. The invasion of Warsaw Pact troops in the night of August 21, 1968 set a brutal end to the Prague Spring. Josette Baer’s new biography focuses on Dubček’s early years, his childhood in Soviet Kirghizia, his participation in the Slovak National Uprising in 1944 against Nazi Germany and the Slovak clerical-fascist government, and his career in the Slovak Communist Party in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It offers new insights into the political thought of the father of ‘Socialism with a Human Face’, based on archive material available to the Western reader for the first time. Who was Alexander Dubček—a naïve apparatchik, an independent thinker, a courageous liberator, or a political dreamer?

Baer’s biography of the former Czechoslovak Foreign Minister Vladimír Clementis (1902–1952) is the first historical study on the Communist politician who was executed with Rudolf Slánský and other top Communist Party members after the show trial of 1952. Born in Tisovec, Central Slovakia, Clementis studied law at Charles University in Prague in the 1920s and had his own law firm in Bratislava in the 1930s. After the Munich Agreement of 1938, he went into exile to France and Great Britain, where he worked at the Czechoslovak broadcast at the BBC for the exile government of Edvard Beneš. After the Second World War, Clementis’ political career at the Czechoslovak Foreign Ministry blossomed: In 1945, he became Assistant Secretary of State under Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk. After Masaryk’s mysterious death in 1948, Clementis was appointed Foreign Minister. This biography offers an unprecedented insight into the mind of a Slovak leftist intellectual of the interwar generation who died at the command of the comrade he had admired since his youth: Generalissimus Stalin.

This engaging and insightful book is the first historical study in English portraying the lives and fates of Czech women. The seven life stories, ranging from the late 19th century to the present day, expose the often cruel political history of Bohemia (19th century), the Czech lands in Czechoslovakia (20th century), and the Czech Republic (20th–21st century) through the eyes of prominent women whose acts and deeds on behalf of their fellow citizens remain unforgotten in the Czech collective mind. The three chapters and four oral history interviews offer a captivating insight into how the situation of Czech women in society has changed during a most eventful period of history. This book has been preceded by a first volume on Slovak women (ISBN 9783838206387) whose lives have been of the same singular importance for Slovakia as their Czech counterparts were for their country. The two volumes are separate entities in their own right, but together provide the reader with a comprehensive picture of women´s lives in the Czech lands and Slovakia, stressing the distinct political circumstances Czech and Slovak women have faced in recent history.

This engaging and insightful book is the first historical study in English portraying the lives and fates of Slovak women. The seven life stories, ranging from the late 19th century to the present day, expose the often cruel political history of Slovakia through the eyes of prominent women whose acts and deeds on behalf of their fellow citizens remain unforgotten in the Slovak collective mind. The four chapters and three oral history interviews offer a captivating insight into how the situation of Slovak women in society has changed during a most eventful period of history. This book will be complemented by a second volume on Czech women whose lives have been of the same singular importance for the Czech lands as their Slovak counterparts were for their country (ISBN 978383827100, coming out in fall 2015). The two volumes are separate entities in their own right, but together provide the reader with a comprehensive picture of womens lives in the Czech lands and Slovakia, stressing the distinct political circumstances Czech and Slovak women have faced in recent history.