The Little Czech and the Great Czech Nation: National Identity and the Post-Communist Social Transformation (Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology)

Ladislav Holy brings to this timely study of national identity the skills of a seasoned researcher, a cosmopolitan perspective, and the insights of an insider. Drawing on historical and literary sources as well as ethnography, he analyzes Czech discourses on national identity. Arguing that there were specifically "Czech" aspects to the Communist regime and to the "velvet revolution", he explores how notions of Czech identity were involved in the debates surrounding the fall of Communism, and the emergence of a new social system.