Between the wars a personality cult grew around Masaryk. These three volumes constitute the first balanced critical assessment of the actual achievement of the university professor who became the first president of Czechoslovakia. In this the first volume scholars from Europe and North America offer new insights into the career and ideas of Masaryk during the three decades preceding the outbreak of World War I. They appraise his role as critic of injustice and outworn tradition, providing a most significant interpretation of his place in modern history.

Notes on the Contributors - Introduction; H.Hanak - Masaryk and the School of Slavonic Studies; C. Seton-Watson - The Meaning of Czech History: Masaryk versus Pekar; M.Hauner - Robert J.Kerner and the U.S. Conception of Czechoslovak Independence; G.J.Svoboda - T.G.Masaryk and the Czechoslovak Legion in Russia; G.Wightman - Masaryk and Benes and the Creation of Czechoslovakia: A Study of Mentalities; W.V.Wallace - The Discrepancy between State and Ethnographic Frontiers: Dmowski and Masaryk on Self-determination; P.C.Latawski - Masaryk and the Germans; F.Hahn - The British Attitude to Masaryk; H.Hanak - Masaryk on Tolstoy and Gorky; A.Mestan - Masaryk and Dostoevsky; P.I.Trensky - Linguistic Authenticity in Karel Capek's Conversations with TGM; D.Short - Leos Jan cek and Masaryk; P.Lambert - Index