This long-awaited synthesis approaches the past three centuries with an eye to highlighting the importance of significant schools, as well as important women educators in the emergence of secondary education for girls. At the same time, each contributor pays careful attention to the specific political, cultural, and socio-economic factors that shaped the emergence of a secondary system open to women. A chronological framework highlights the most important moments of change and attention to how countries exported girls' education to the colonies, as well as the transnational discussion on the subject, makes this volume an exciting addition to scholarship on women's history and the history of education. Contents include: (1) Introduction: Girls' Secondary Education in the Western World--An Historical Introduction (James C. Albisetti, Joyce Goodman and Rebecca Rogers); (2) Class and Religion: Great Britain and Ireland (Joyce Goodman); (3) Culture and Catholicism: France (Rebecca Rogers); (4) The Influence of Confession and State: Germany and Austria (Juliane Jacobi); (5) Chequered Routes to Secondary Education: Italy (Simonetta Soldani); (6) Between Modernization and Conservatism: Spain (Consuelo Flecha); (7) Toward the Recognition of their Educational Rights: Portugal (Helena C. Araujo, Cristina Rocha and Laura Fonseca); (8) Champion in Coeducation: the Netherlands (Mineke Van Essen and Hilda Amsing); (9) Politics and Anti-clericalism: Belgium (Eliane Gubin); (10) Lutheranism and Democracy: Scandinavia (Agneta Linne); (11) Nation-building, Patriotism and Women's Citizenship: Bulgaria in South Eastern Europe (Krassimira Daskalova); (12) From an Exclusive Privilege to a Right and an Obligation: Modern Russia (E. Thomas Ewing); (13) Europeans and the American Model of Girls' Secondary Education (James C. Albisetti); and (14) Crossing Borders in Girls' Secondary Education (Joyce Goodman and Rebecca Rogers).