A Dictionary of Czech Culture

The selections here come from a larger dictionary of Czech culture. The aim of the dictionary is not to provide a comprehensive account of Czech history and culture, but rather to introduce the reader to some concepts - people, places, songs, slogans - known to all Czechs. These concepts generally do not appear in dictionaries, textbooks, or histories, or at least not in the form they do here. Yet all of them are well known to Czechs living in the latter half of the twentieth century. They are the furniture of his or her mental universe. Just about every Czech alludes to them when talking to friends, situates new phenomena in relation to them, and assumes them to be a natural part of the world. I thus try to explain not just their literal meaning, but also the set of associations that has grown around them.