Never have two such important world figures collaborated on a biography: T.G. Masaryk (1850-1937), the original Philosopher-president who founded Czechoslovakia in 1918, and Karel Capek (1890-1938), the leading Czech novelist, story writer and playwright. Capek interviewed Masaryk over a number of years and then from memory produced a single narrative that tells Masaryk’s incredible story in a voice as ordinary and yet magical as the best of Capek’s fictional characters. It is the story of how a poor half Czech, half- Slovak country boy got himself an education, married a girl from Brooklyn, became a professor, and grew increasingly controversial by defending a young Jew acussed of ritual murder and by unmasking Czech historical sagas as forgeries. During WWI, Masaryk convinced the Allied leaders to recognize his people’s independence, and became his nation’s first president. Woven through the narrative are Masaryk’s thoughts on everything from nationalism and religion to education and America.