In the Prague of the 1970s and 1980s, through the long years of Communist rule, the philosopher Jan Patočka and a circle of dissident writers, priests, and intellectuals gathered around Charter 77 and the underground church. Václav Havel, Tomáš Halík, and a generation of samizdat theologians kept faith and conscience alive through clandestine seminars and hand-typed manuscripts. Patočka died after eleven hours of secret police interrogation in 1977, and the circle continued on.