Shana Penn is a visiting scholar in Jewish studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. She is the author of Solidarity’s Secret: The Women Who Defeated Communism in Poland (2005) which was awarded the Heldt Prize for Best Book in Slavic/East European/Eurasian/Women’s Studies by the Association of Women in Slavic Studies. Her newest publication is the collected volume, Gender Politics and Everyday Life in State Socialist Eastern and Central Europe, coedited with Jill Massino (Palgrave USA, December 2009). She also directs the Jewish Heritage Initiative in Poland for the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture in San Francisco.