Gender in Twentieth-Century Eastern Europe and the USSR

Book excerpt: A concise and accessible introduction to the gender histories of eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in the 20th century. These essays juxtapose established topics in gender history such as motherhood, masculinities, work and activism with newer areas, such as the history of imprisonment and the transnational history of sexuality. By collecting these essays in a single volume, Catherine Baker encourages historians to look at gender history across borders and time periods, emphasising that evidence and debates from Eastern Europe can inform broader approaches to contemporary gender history.