ANN T. ALLEN is Professor in the Department of History at the University of Louisville, USA. She is a distinguished scholar and experienced teacher and has published widely on women's history, German history and European history.

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction: The Best of Times. the Worst of TimesWomen and the First World WarWomen as Citizens in the Inter-War DemocraciesWomen in the Authoritarian and Totalitarian States of the Inter-War YearsWomen in the Second World WarThe Best of Both Worlds? Women in Western Europe in the Post-War Era, 1945-1970Too Emancipated? Women in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, 1945-1989The Personal and the Political: Women's Liberation in Western Europe, 1968-1990Democracy Without Women: Eastern Europe after CommunismFrom Equal Rights to Gender Mainstreaming: Women in the European Union, 1980-PresentConclusion: Emancipation: Myth and RealityNotesSuggested ReadingIndex.