"Among the remarkable phenomena of the East German autumn of 1989 was the emergence, almost overnight, of a dynamic, articulate feminist movement. Yet within a few months the movement had become demoralized, fragmented, and politically marginal. . . . Young's book helps us to understand why women's interests played such a disturbingly small role in reunification."
—Elizabeth Heineman, University of Iowa, Central European History, Volume 33, No. 2 (2000)
— Elizabeth Heineman, University of Iowa, Central European History
". . . clearly and concisely documents how the conservative structure and practices of the West German state, plus the fundamental differences between East German 'political' and West German 'cultural' feminism, frustrated the UFV's attempt to place women's issues at the center of a newly unified Germany, and reveals the dismal results thereafter. This knowledgeable, well-written, and largely objective monograph also briefly compares the East German women's experiences with women in other postcommunist societies."
—C. Fink, Ohio State University, Choice, March 2000
— C. Fink, Ohio State University, Choice
"Young's analysis of German unification from a gender-specific perspective offers a useful insight both into the processes of the West German state and the differences between the women's movements in East and West Germany. She takes a measured view of what East German women won and lost in the unification process and of the achievements of the UFV, whose aims were always bound to come to naught as it failed to grasp the gendered nature of the state which took over its own and the East German people's desire for speedy unification."
—Helen L. Boak, University of Hertfordshire, German History, 18:3
— Helen L. Boak, University of Hertfordshire, German History
"[An] excellent analysis of female exclusion. . . ."
—Debbie Wagener, Birmingham University, German Politics, August 2000
— Debbie Wagener, Birmingham University, German Politics