In University—Historiography—Society—Politics: Selected Studies of Jan Havránek, Jiří Pešek provides us with a compilation of articles and essays written by Jan Havránek, a seminal figure in twentieth-century Czech historiography. As Pešek asserts—and I can personally attest—Havránek was an enormously helpful and inviting presence for generations of foreign scholars conducting research in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. In addition to his presence in Prague, Havránek was well-known abroad through his publications, many of which appeared originally in either German or English.

The present volume consists of thirty-one publications divided into four categories: University, Historiography, Society, and Politics. All but one appear in their original language—German, English, or French—with the final chapter translated into German from the original Czech. In his introduction, Pešek restates the value of these studies not only for their content, but also as a basis for understanding Havránek, his place in Czech historiography, and the context of the challenges he faced, first as the son of a Jewish mother during the Nazi occupation and then as a scholar in Communist Czechoslovakia with a politically undesirable background and orientation. The collection is designed to provide both a thematic and chronological orientation to his work. Although it includes writings from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the majority stem from the 1990s and 2000s. The articles can still be read on their own with profit, and collectively they provide us a vision of the broad interests and careful research and writing of an important member of the profession.

One should not, however, purchase this collection expecting something more. The articles are worthy in their own right, but the text offers little connective tissue to bind them into a synthetic whole. The book provides a brief biography of Havránek, highlighting his challenges and successes and outlining his work in the thematic areas that form the organizational structure of this collection. The work, however, does not set out to engage in a substantive analysis of the articles. It does not carry a sustained discussion of Havránek's place in a broader historiographical framework, nor does it discuss how his views might have changed over the decades.

The value of the collection is rather in two other forms. First, it brings together a set of articles that are otherwise difficult to obtain. In an online search, an American university reference librarian was able to locate only two articles available online. One was offered without charge and the other for $30 USD. To replicate this collection would require a lot of time, effort, and expense. The work thus makes these articles readily accessible to those who already have an interest in these historical topics and, more specifically, in the work of Jan Havránek. A second value of the work is that it complements the two Festschrifts published in Havránek's honor: Bildungsgeschichte, Bevölkerungsgeschichte, Gesellschaftsgeschichte in den Böhmischen Ländern und in Europa, which was published in 1988, and Magister Noster, which appeared in 2005. The first book includes a bibliography of his works, 1953–1987, the second carries the list forward to 2004. In addition, the second volume includes a set of six articles that take as their subject the role of Havránek as a teacher, colleague, and researcher. Taken together, the three books provide us a wealth of information and the raw material to begin a serious study of Jan Havránek, his place in historiography, and the historical topics that intrigued him.