This book is about two Hungarians of outstanding talent. One is decades older than the other, yet they are contemporaries. Their paths have crossed several times. There were times when they seemed to be able to work together. The older of them, George Soros, entered Hungarian politics in 1984 in midlife, extremely wealthy and energetic, full of plans for social change. He quickly struck a deal with the leaders of Hungary's one-party state, enabling him to launch the Soros Foundation, which has since become a household name around the world. The younger man, Viktor Orbán, burst onto the Hungarian political scene at the end of the 1980s and immediately became the leader of the forces which brought down communism in Hungary, and the embodiment of the hope shared by those who wanted a new, democratic Hungary. Soros also quickly saw a future in him and funded a foreign study trip for him. It could have been the beginning of a beautiful friendship. But it was not to be.
