MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT (1759-1797)came of age during the last decades of the eighteenth century. In many respects she embodied the political and artistic changes that occurred during this period and the attempts to reconcile the philosophical pursuit of reason with sympathetic sensibility. Her work and personal life reflect these often conflicting tendencies, which culminated in the Romantic Movement of the early nineteenth century.

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In an era of revolutions demanding greater liberties for mankind, Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was an ardent feminist who spoke eloquently for countless women of her time.

Having witnessed firsthand the devastating results of male improvidence, she assumed an independent role early in life, educating herself and eventually earning a living as a governess, teacher and writer. She was also an esteemed member of the radical intellectual circle that included William Godwin (father of her daughter, novelist Mary Godwin Shelley, and later her husband), Thomas Paine, William Blake, Henry Fuseli and others.

First published in 1792, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman created a scandal in its day, largely, perhaps, because of the unconventional lifestyle of its creator. Today, it is considered the first great manifesto of women’s rights, arguing passionately for the education of women: "Tyrants and sensualists are in the right when they endeavor to keep women in the dark, because the former want only slaves, and the latter a plaything."

No narrow-minded zealot, Wollstonecraft balanced passionate advocacy with a sympathetic warmth--a characteristic that helped her ideas achieve widespread influence. Anyone interested in the history of the women’s rights movement will welcome this inexpensive edition of one of the landmark documents in the struggle for human dignity, freedom and equality.

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INTRODUCTION 

CHAPTER I: The Rights and Involved Duties of Mankind Considered

CHAFFER II: The Prevailing Opinion of a Sexual Character Discussed

CHAFFER III: The Same Subject Continued

CHAPTER IV: Observations on the State of Degradation to Which

  Woman Is Reduced by Various Causes

CHAPTER V: Animadversions on Some of the Writers Who Have

  Rendered Women Objects of Pity, Bordering on Contempt

CHAFFER VI: The Effect Which an Early Association of Ideas Has

  Upon the Character

CHAFFER VII: Modesty.- Comprehensively Considered, and Not as

  a Sexual Virtue

CHAPTERVIII: Morality Undermined by Sexual Notions of the

  Importance of a Good Reputation

CHAFFER IX: Of the Pernicious Effects Which Arise from the

Unnatural Distinctions Established in Society

CHAFFERX: Parental Affection

CHAFFER XI: Duty to Parents

CHAPTER XII: On National Education

CHAFFER XIII: Some Instances of the Folly Which the Ignorance

  of Women Generates; with Concluding Reflections on the Moral

  Improvement That a Revolution in Female Manners Might Naturally

  Be Expected to Produce