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Power of the Powerless

Power of the Powerless

Citizens Against the State in Central-Eastern Europe
EssaysPhilosophy
Pages
232
Published
2009
Language
English

Synopsis

What can one person do against an oppressive state? In his landmark 1978 essay, Czech dissident Václav Havel explores the nature of power in a totalitarian system. He argues that the regime's strength comes from the quiet compliance of ordinary people, and that the true power of the powerless lies in the simple, courageous act of 'living within the truth.

Prose complexity
10/10

Vibe

Thought-ProvokingIntellectualInspiring

Genres

Essays Philosophy Politics & Society

Authors

T
Timothy Snyder

Timothy David Snyder (born August 18, 1969) is an American author and historian specializing in the history of Central and Eastern Europe, and the Holocaust. He is the Richard C. Levin Professor of History at Yale University and a Permanent Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. Snyder is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Conscience of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Source: [Timothy Snyder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timo...

V
Václav Havel

Czech statesman, playwright, and former dissident, the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic