Few political lives have been as dramatic, or as marked by sudden changes of fortune, as that of Janos Kadar. Was Kadar--Hungary's communist leader from 1956 to 1988--an ambitious, ruthless party functionary or a tragic visionary? In this, the first biography in English since the collapse of the Soviet bloc, Roger Gough paints a vivid picture of Kadar's personality and career, while analyzing his significance for Hungary and his place in the history of European communism.