Women and Gender in Postwar Europe

Joanna Regulska is a Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Geography and the Dean of International Programs, School for Arts and Sciences at Rutgers. Her publications include Women and Citizenship in Central and East Europe with Jasmina Lukic and Darja Zavirsek, (2006) and Cooperation or Conflict: State, the European Union and Women with M. Grabowska, M. Fuszara and J. Mizielinska (2008). Bonnie G. Smith is Board of Governors Professor of History at Rutgers University. Her publications indclude The Gender of History: Men, Women and Historical Practice (1998); Imperialism (2000); Europe in the Contemporary World (2005); and co-author of The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures (1994, 2001, 2005, 2009) and of Crossroads and Cultures: A History of the World (forthcoming, 2011). She has edited Global Feminisms since 1945 (2000) and Women’s and Gender History in Global Perspective (3 vols., 2004-5).

• Notes on Contributors. Preface. Introduction: Historical Overview Bonnie G. Smith 1. Battling for Peace: The Transformation of the Women’s Movement in Cold War Czechoslovakia and Eastern Europe Melissa Feinberg 2. ‘Democracy Could Go No Further’: European Women in the Early United Nations Jan Lambertz 3. Women and Social Work in Central and Eastern Europe Darja Zavirsek 4. Psychoanalysts on the Radio: Domestic Citizenship and Motherhood in Postwar Britain Michal Shapira 5. The ‘Motor of Modern Life’: Women’s Work in Europe West and East since 1945 Francisca de Haan 6. ‘What’s new’ and is it good for you? Gender and Consumerism in Postwar Europe M. Jane Slaughter 7. Happy Motherhood and Lesbian Spaces: Women’s Initiatives and Sexuality in Postwar Europe Cynthia Kreisel 8. Political Participation, Civil Society, and Gender: Lessons from the Cold War? Belinda Davis 9. Gender, Race and Utopias of Development Young-Sun Hong 10. Gender and Reframing of the First World War in Serbia during 1980s and 1990s Melissa Bokovoy 11. Post-Soviet Masculinities, Shame and the Archives of Social Suffering in Contemporary Lithuania Arturas Tereskinas 12. Post-1989 Women’s Activism in Poland Joanna Regulska and Magda Grabowska. Conclusion: Joanna Regulska

This collaborative project is a most welcome addition to the scholarship on European history in the twentieth century, as well as to gender history and the history of the Cold War... The volume is an excellent collection for undergraduate audiences. The introduction offers an elegant and brief overview of crucial moments and themes in the history of Europe over the period covered, followed by thematic chapters that both take apart and also reconstitute assumptions strongly held by previous scholars—all in engaging and relatively jargon-free language... For those who have been waiting for a sophisticated, yet user-friendly collection on gender and European history since 1945 that could constitute a solid starting point for a course on the same topic, this is the answer."Maria Bucur-Deckard, Indiana University, USA, in The History Teacher"The volume’s introduction and conclusion frame the book well, providing some larger-picture context for the chapters... The individual chapters likewise provide fascinating and informative glimpses into a wide range of countries and topics, examining them under a gender lens. Scholars of the Cold War, of Europe, and of gender studies would all stand to gain from reading this diverse, detailed, and insightful work."Valerie Sperling, Clark University, USA, in The Journal of Cold War Studies