Political Writings: A Vindication of the Rights of Men - a Vindication of the Rights of Woman: an Historical and Moral View of the French Revolution - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802074456 ISBN 13: 9780802074454

Publisher: University of Toronto Press, 1993

Synopsis

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-97) is increasingly recognised not only as one of the most influential thinkers on women's rights, but also as an incisive and observant writer on politics, education and social issues. Wollstonecraft wrote her first polemical work, A Vindication of the Rights of Men, in 1790 in response to Edmund Burke's conservative Reflections on the Revolution in France. It gave Wollstonecraft recognition as a writer and helped to create a larger audience for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, written during the following year. In this controversial essay, one of the first systematic arguments for female emancipation based on the idea of human rights, she contends that any general improvement of society demands that men and women be treated as equals. An Historical and Moral View of the French Revolution tries to sustain the political convictions of the two Vindications in the context of the bloody events of the later Revolution. Although she remained firmly committed to the principles of the early Revolution, her disappointment at their practice is evident in this selection of her writings.

About this title

Review:

... this edition does away with the idea of M. W. as Tom Paine in Skirts. Her mind is deepter and richer than his; her transmutation of the turmoil of her experiences during the revolutionary period in France is remarkable. (The Observer)

About the Author:

Janet Todd is Professor of English Literature at the University of East Anglia.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0802074456
• ISBN 13: 9780802074454
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 411
• Editor: Wollstonecraft Mary, Todd Janet