Introduction

This introduction presents the theme of the book in the context of the history of Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic, and also in an international context. It focuses on the theoretical bases and key concepts used in the book: post-socialist transformation, contemporary history, everyday life history, and microhistory. The second part of this introduction describes the methodology and the course of the research project leading to the results presented in the book. The conclusion provides an outline of the organization of the book and its chapters.