In the past, the history of Slovakia, which considers itself to be at “the crossroads of Europe,” did not receive wide attention from the English-speaking academic world. One factor that accounts for this neglect is that for most of its history, Slovakia was part of a broader political structure, and when it was, or fought to be, independent, that effort produced contested views. Academic interest in Slovak history and politics has slowly grown since the 1990s, but there remain large areas that have not yet been widely studied. Thus, James Ward's thoroughly researched history of Jozef Tiso, the president of the wartime Slovak Republic, is a welcome addition to the field and fills a real void.

Ward focuses on the life and career of Tiso, presenting him, as the title indicates, in his roles as priest, politician, and wartime collaborator. The order in the title approximates the evolution of Tiso's identity during the first half of the twentieth century. Ward develops this theme in chronological order: he examines Tiso as a priest in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the upheaval of the period 1918–1919, his growing status as a politician trying to structure a role for himself and Catholic Slovaks in the Czechoslovak Republic, another period of political turmoil from 1938–1939, and his taking on the role of president and, by extension, Nazi collaborator in the Slovak Republic. Lastly, Ward considers Tiso's defeat, both physically in the disintegration of the Republic, his trial, and execution, and morally, especially in his acquiescence to the deportation and transfer of Jews, most to certain deaths.

The study is more history than biography, focusing on both Tiso's career and the environment and era that shaped that career. It has been said that one's culture is the water one swims in; over the span of his life, Tiso swam in vastly different waters, not necessarily by choice. Tiso became a priest in Hungary, in a region where Magyarization was especially intense. Dedicated to the priesthood but also eager to advance in the church, Tiso did not challenge this policy. However, when he studied at the Pamaneum in Vienna, the training ground for Hungarian priests, he encountered University of Vienna professors, such as Franz Martin Schindler and Ignaz Seipel, in seminars that were attuned to social justice issues raised by Pope Leo XIII. The plight of the poor and oppressed thus began to figure in his priestly duties (23–24). At the same time, Tiso absorbed a more explicit anti-Semitism, which came to the fore in his speaking and writing during the revolutionary transition period of 1918–1919. Ward points out that anti-Semitism was part of Tiso's worldview. Though it was muted and he even occasionally condemned it during the interwar period, his anti-Semitic rhetoric resumed and intensified in 1938.

With the formation of Czechoslovakia, Tiso jumped into new waters and began to take on the role of politician in earnest. The key issue was the protection of the identity of Slovaks as Catholics; for the rest of his career, Tiso stood for “God and Nation” (Za Boha a Narod). Ward quotes from a speech Tiso gave in 1932: “We feel every breeze, we swim in every stream, but we are not carried away by any fashion, because our essence is eternal.” But as his political career increasingly overshadowed his clerical position, Tiso ended up reversing God and Nation, which to him had become conflated as one. By 1938, as a result of international pressures, Tiso took credit for securing Slovak autonomy and assumed leadership of the Ludaks. The following year he led, albeit with much vacillation, the Slovaks to independence.

Ward effectively shows the pressures on Tiso during his presidency of the Slovak Republic, but also illustrates Tiso's tendency to blame those pressures and other people for his decisions. This is especially true about the treatment of the Jews. Ward presents convincing evidence that Tiso, and by extension his defenders, cannot evade responsibility for the robbery, expulsion, and deportation of Slovak Jews to death camps. By 1944, the priest and the politician had indeed become the collaborator. The attack on the Slovak national uprising against the Nazis reflected that reality. As his 1947 trial demonstrates, Tiso had come to see himself as the person he created, to be judged by his intentions and explanations, not by his actions. As Ward points out, Tiso was determined to justify his moral legitimacy: “to admit guilt was to betray his movement by handing a weapon to an iniquitous enemy. Becoming a martyr, in contrast, strengthened his cause” (281).

Ward covers Tiso's trial and execution, pointing out that the trial was shaped and motivated by political goals and that there were serious breaches of the judicial process. Ward then examines the historiographical fate of Tiso. This is a much contested arena, as the historical narrative about Tiso is tied to historical developments in the second half of the twentieth century. Post-World War II Slovak emigrés focused on Tiso as the guardian of Slovak independence, a martyr for God and Nation. Under the Communist regimes, the only accepted version of Tiso was that of the war criminal and traitor. Since the collapse of Communism, and especially after independence, Slovak historians have been engaged in challenging the politicized stories of Tiso, instead producing thoroughly researched academic studies. Nearly all their work, however, is in Slovak, so Ward's summation of their efforts is welcome.

A third valuable aspect of Ward's book is that it does depict, albeit not in great detail, the waters in which Tiso swam. Especially useful are the sketches of Czechoslovak politics in the First Republic. All too often, Czechoslovakia is portrayed as a successful democracy, and by implication, Slovak nationalist aspirations were the work of enemies of democracy. In fact, the structure of the republic necessitated that Slovaks either become secularized Czechoslovaks or rebellious, suspect separatists—leaving little room for legitimate Slovak national aspirations and criticisms of Prague. For most of the period 1919–1938, Tiso sought to swim within the stream of Czechoslovakia; some needless persecutions and insults made that more difficult and led to his seeking other waters. The detailed study of Tiso does not allow for extended discussion of how external turbulence in the 1930s shaped Tiso the man.

Ward's work is based on extensive archival sources from Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, and Germany. What is missing is a full bibliography. Secondary sources are mentioned in the endnotes, but the cramped nature of these notes makes it difficult to find full citations for most works mentioned. Aside from that, Ward has produced a thought-provoking account of Jozef Tiso, one that will surely generate further discussion and study.