For The Love of Prague is the true love story of the only free American continuously living in Prague during 30 years of the communist regime, yet was free of its control, free to travel in and out of the iron curtain at will, and managed a completely independent career and lovc of an astounding Czech woman. The book could only be written after the "Velvet Revolution" of 1989. Before that, the author's life was a delicate and amazing tight wire act.

From the Author

Prague is a city fallen in love with on a first visit. I sm currently (2004) in my 44th year of residence here, and my love for it persists. The glittering and rich Prague of today is far from pefect, but it is beyond comparison to the gray and dowdy town I had to cope with during 30 years of communism, when my dear little Zdenka and I dodged through a hair-raisng series of survival adventures. In a crazy way, much of it was hilariously funny, and even in its over-the-top 180-degree adaption of capitalism, it remains a place of absurdities, while at the saem time providing something for everyone. There is no place quite like Prague. I am lucky and happy to be here.

Gene Deitch, December 2004

From the Inside Flap

A successful American cartoon animator finds himself in hard-line communist Prague at the height if the coldwar. Under extremely difficult conditions he finds love and creative fulfillment, wins a Hollywood Oscar, and outwits and outlasts the communists. A true memoir of a man in a unique situation in a magical but deprived place, during times of galvanic historic events. How it really was to live under communism, the bad, the ugly, the good, and the hilarious, through the eyes of an American who lived trhough it for 30 years, yet was not under control of the regime.