Underwriting Democracy: Encouraging Free Enterprise and Democratic Reform Among the Soviets and in Eastern Europe

George Soros has done more for open societies than any other private citizen in the world. In Underwriting Democracy he describes his experiences helping to bring about democratic change in Eastern Europe -- experiences that are especially relevant now that our country has begun to intervene (though in an entirely different way than Soros) to create functioning democracies. Throughout the 1980s George Soros worked to identify and fund the growing political movements that caused the downfall of Eastern Europe's Communist governments. He established foundations, first in his native Hungary, and then in eight other countries, and used them to finance everything from the installation of previously forbidden copying machines in public libraries to the creation of experimental schools, clubs, and workshops for the support of dissidents. This unprecedented, and brilliant, financial and logistical support helped to bring down the communist regimes in peaceful revolutions across the continent. These are thrilling stories about facing down -- and getting past -- the Communist party powers in order to change these nations from the inside out.


About the Author
George Soros was named as the Financial Times Person of the Year for 2018, citing the standard bearer of liberal democracy and open society: the ideas which triumphed in the cold war, now under siege from all sides, from Vladimir Putin's Russia to Donald Trump's America.

For more than three decades, George Soros has used philanthropy to battle against authoritarianism, racism and intolerance. Through his long commitment to openness, media freedom and human rights, he has attracted the wrath of authoritarian regimes and, increasingly, the national populists who continue to gain ground, particularly in Europe.

He is chairman of Soros Fund Management and founder of a global network of foundations dedicated to supporting open societies. Soros is the author of several bestselling books including The Crash of 2008 and The Crisis of Global Capitalism.