Martin Conway is a Fellow in History at Balliol College, University of Oxford. Peter Romijn is Head of Research at the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (NIOD), Amsterdam, and a Professor at the University of Amsterdam

• Foreword Chapter One: Political Legitimacy in Mid-Twentieth Century Europe: An Introduction Chapter Two: Legitimacy in Inter-War Europe Chapter Three: Wartime National Legitimacy: Ownership, Pretenders and Wars Chapter Four: The War For Legitimacy At the Local Level Chapter Five: Culture and Legitimacy Chapter Six: Legitimacy and the Making of the Post-War Order This is a a collective volume. Chapters I, II and III were prominently written by the editors, Martin Conway and Peter Romijn, with the valuable assistance of Benjamin Frommer and Denis Peschanski in the preparation of Chapter II, and III respectively. Chapter IV was written by Nico Wouters with the assistance of Niels Wium Olesen and the editors. Chapter V was written by Mary Vincent and Erica Carter. Chapter VI was written by Mark Pittaway with the valuable assistance of Hans-Fredrik Dahl. Ben Frommer, Nowrthwestern University, Evanston IL Denis Peschanski, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris Nico Wouters Mechelen, Belgium Niels Wium Olesen, University of Aarhus Mary Vincent, University of Sheffield Erica Carter, University of Warwick Mark Pittaway, The Open University, Milton Keynes Hans Fredrik Dahl, University of Oslo

A sustained, thoughtful and thought-provoking collective reflection on the political distinctiveness of the period between the mid-1930s and the transition to peacetime after the Second World War.