Prague Winter (Albright)

Discussion Questions
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1. Talk abouth the book's title. What is meant by the term "Prague Winter"?

2. Describe the cultural differences between the Czechs and Slovaks.

3. Follow-up to Question 2: What were the differing visions for the country, during the intervening war years, of Masaryk and Benes vs. those of Stefanik and Hodza?

4. Discuss the impact of the 1938 Munich Agreement on Czechoslavakia as described by Albright. In what way is Munich a scar on the nation's psychic? What is meant by the famous outcry"about us, without us"? Who does Albright blame for the sell-out? What was (or was not) the role of the US?

5. Albright delivers a history lesson about the World War II era from the Czechoslovakian prospective. Has that approach altered or enlarged your understanding of the war years?

6. How does Albright describe Tito's takeover in 1948?

7. To what does Albright attribute the Czech Republic's "Atlanticism," it's strong attachment to America?

8. How does Albright view the 2009 "open letter" to Barak Obama from Central European intellectuals and politicians in which they bemoaned the decline in transatlantic ties? Why does Albright consider it "whiny"? Is she correct?

9. Why do Albright's parents convert to Catholicism? Talk about her shock at the later discovery of her Jewish heritage. How would such a discovery affect your own sense of identity?

10. Near the end of her book, Albright writes about "the capacity within us for unspeakable cruelty or...at least some degree of moral cowardice....

There is a piece of the traitor within most of us, a slice of collaborator, an aptitude for appeasement, a touch of the unfeeling prison guard. Who among us has not dehumanized others, if not by word or action, then at least in thought? From the maternity ward to the deathbed, all that goes on within our breasts is hardly sweetness and light. Some have concluded from this that what is needed from our leaders is an iron hand, an ideology that explains everything, or a historical grievance that can serve as a center of our lives.

Do you agree with those sentiments? Do you see yourself in that statement?

11. In the same vein as Question 10: What do you make of Vaclav Havel who saw humanity divided into two groups: those who "wait for Godot" and those who insist on "speaking the truth." What did Havel mean? Which group would you place yourself under?

12. In what way might Albright's book serve as a guidepost for our own times? What lessons can we learn from the history of world events recounted in Prague Winter?

13. The book is both history and memoir. Which parts most engaged you—the personal or the historical?

14. Why, according to Madeleine Albright, is it important that the world remember the events of 1938-1945?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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