A Vindication of Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Policial and Moral SUBJECTs (Collected Works of Mary Wollstonecraft)

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Classic.......2006-06-21

A passionate document in eloquent prose. Mary Wollstonecraft was a terrific polemicist and this is her most brilliant work, a deeply moving diatribe against the repression of women. I dare any man to read it and remain unmoved! This is a true classic.

An Anthology With Every Angle.......2003-04-21

This book has Wollstonecraft's A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN and a through Background, Debate and Criticism section. This book gives one everything needed to understand Wollstonecraft's personality strenghths and weaknesses according to authors from her time; a complete debate on the subject of women's rights from multiple authors (from different time periods); and an intense review by serveral other authors (within the last 25 years) on Wollstonecraft's success/failure. Every article in the book has been published independently of this book. This work also contains several journal articles.

Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Men and a Vindication of the Rights of Woman and Hints (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)

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Old English, but necessary nonetheless

Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Men and a Vindication of the Rights of Woman and Hints (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)
Mary Wollstonecraft
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521436338

Book Description

Mary Wollstonecraft is remembered principally as the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), and there has been a tendency to view her most famous work in isolation. Yet Wollstonecraft's pronouncements about women grew out of her reflections on men, and her views on the female sex constituted an integral part of a wider moral and political critique of her times that she first fully formulated in A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790). This fully annotated edition brings these two works together.

Customer Reviews:

Old English, but necessary nonetheless.......2006-08-05

Wollstonecraft's writings are essential in both the early humanist political theory as well as one of the original feminist writers. Any feminist, French Revolution enthusiest, or student of political theory should read this book. To completely appreciate Wollstonecraft's argument, her respective position in society and own life need also be understood; where some editions include a historical biography. Two drawbacks in reading this book: 1) The language and tangentical writing style of Wollstonecraft is hard for modern readers to comprehend at an average paced reading rate, and 2) that to understand the Vindication of the Rights of Man, Edmund Burke's writings on the French Revolution should be read first, and it is in even staunchier writing style and language than Wollstonecraft.

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Penguin Classics)

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vindication of the rights for women
First Feminist
From a man's point of view

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Penguin Classics)
Mary Wollstonecraft , and Miriam Brody
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0141441259
Release Date: 2004-09-28

Book Description

Writing in an age when the call for the rights of man had brought revolution to America and France, Mary Wollstonecraft produced her own declaration of female independence in 1792. Passionate and forthright, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman attacked the prevailing view of docile, decorative femininity and instead laid out the principles of emancipation: an equal education for girls and boys, an end to prejudice, and the call for women to become defined by their profession, not their partner. Mary Wollstonecraft's work was received with a mixture of admiration and outrage—Walpole called her “a hyena in petticoats”—yet it established her as the mother of modern feminism.

Customer Reviews:

vindication of the rights for women .......2007-02-07

Thanks, it got here quick and is in good condition.

First Feminist.......2006-12-16

This was required reading for a graduate course in the Humanities. Wollstonecraft is not easy to read however, she makes a compelling argument. Mary Wollstonecraft viewed the institution of marriage simply as legal prostitution. She believed this to be the case for several reasons. First, the marriage laws in Britain at the time gave men legal rights over their wives including their property. The law also gave men custody of their children in event of divorce, and a woman could not even obtain a divorce without their husband's consent. For women divorce meant having to leave everything of importance in their lives behind. Thus, Wollstonecraft observed that Britain's laws left women in the unenviable position of being treated as mere chattel by their husbands. Second, Wollstonecraft argued that women's downtrodden position in society was not the cause of religious or moral teachings. She was emphatic in her assessment that it was women's denial of the same educational opportunities that men received that made them seem weak and inferior to men. Finally, she believed marriage only chained women to a life of drudgery in the home.

Armed with this information, Wollstonecraft set out to propose in her book A Vindication of the Rights of Women the idea, that equal education for women was the only remedy for this grave injustice perpetrated against them, and education for women would actually strengthen the institution of marriage. She made several prescient arguments to support this idea. First, Wollstonecraft believed schoolchildren needed the contact and interaction with other schoolchildren to develop properly. So, she argued against Britain's system of elitist education, especially its private schools and boarding schools. She advocated for the creation of national public schools, funded by the state, and attended by children from the entire socio-economic strata. Second, she thought it was imperative that both boys and girls must be educated together. The reason Wollstonecraft believed in coeducation, was that when both boys and girls get to know one another from an early age they would in turn, build friendships, and learn to respect one another. Therefore, when women get married, they will be able to serve as companions to their husbands and not just as trophy wives or sexual objects. "Nay, marriage will never be held sacred till women, by being brought up with men, are prepared to be their companions rather than their mistresses." Third, Wollstonecraft asked the question, how society could expect mothers to rear healthy boys capable of functioning as confident and productive men in society if their mothers, who raised them, were uneducated. She was horrified to think of the damage already done to children by uneducated, weak-minded mothers. Wollstonecraft articulates in beautiful fashion her argument for the need to educate women in the following quote. "If marriage be the cement of society, mankind should all be educated after the same model, or the intercourse of the sexes will never deserve the name of fellowship, nor will women ever fulfill the peculiar duties of their sex." This argument only enhances women's roles as wives and mothers. Finally, Wollstonecraft argued that the implementation of her educational reforms would prove to be a key element leading to the improvement of the institution of marriage in particular, and for family life in general. "Contending for the rights of women, my main argument is built on this simple principle, that if she be not prepared by education to become the companion of man, she will stop the progress of knowledge and virtue."

Recommended reading for anyone interested in history, psychology, philosophy, and feminism.

From a man's point of view.......2006-06-26

I picked this book up in Boston waiting for my wife to order coffee and was instantly enamoured with the author's prose. At times I wondered if I was reading an essay or poetry.

Regardless, Mary Wollstonecraft summarizes the plight of women very well and the reader ( whether male or female ) gets a palpable sense of it's injustice.

She concludes that since the literate male giants like " Rousseau" bolstered the prevailing thought that men were made to reason and women to feel it is hardly suprising that women were oppressed.

From birth women, in the manor of pets, are trained in refining their "sensibilities" pursuing frivolity in "proper manners and etiquette" and stylish dress to the exclusion of cultural and intellectual development. Her only purpose to marry and become slave to the whim of her man's pleasure . Her drudgery and mindless existence is punctuated only by her childish outbursts. In such a state she is hardly capable of independent living let alone thought and utterly unfit as a mother. This state of affairs not only degrades women but men of reason and society at large since domestic affairs ultimately spill upon the fabric of society.

The baleful consequences of such forced behaviours are a romantic temperment reinforced by reading novels of the day instead of science or history the latter deemed "boring" since the women lack the capacity to understand it. Such women being deprived of intellectual stimulation focus on vanity which further corrupts their soul making them envious, bitter and mean. Any woman who dares to challenge this state of affairs is ostracized almost to the same extent as a woman who has lost her "reputation".

Mary Wollstonecraft writings are rife with social and political commentary which is refreshing. She is particularly critical of the upper class and their perpetuation of oppression.

Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: A Sourcebook (Routledge Literary Sourcebooks)

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First Feminist

Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: A Sourcebook (Routledge Literary Sourcebooks)
A. Craciun
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Mary Wollstonecraft and the Feminist Imagination (Cambridge Studies in Romanticism)

ASIN: 0415227364

Book Description

This sourcebook provides the first interdisciplinary guide to the founding text of modern feminism, Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. In addition to closely annotated key passages of the landmark treatise, this sourcebook also contains letters by Wollstonecraft and her most influential contemporaries, nineteenth-century responses on specific aspects of the text, including slavery, sexuality, religion and sensibility, a contextual chronology, an annotated reading list and substantial introductory materials. This essential guide not only contributes to the understanding of Wollstonecraft's role in the development of the women's movement, but also allows readers to gain a deeper understanding of British literature and politics at the turn of the nineteenth-century, of Romanticism and of the origins of feminism.

Customer Reviews:

First Feminist.......2006-12-16

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Penguin Great Ideas)

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A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Penguin Great Ideas)
Mary Wollstonecraft
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0143037501

Book Description

The perfect books for the true book lover, Penguin's Great Ideas series features twelve more groundbreaking works by some of history's most prodigious thinkers. Each volume is beautifully packaged with a unique type-driven design that highlights the bookmaker's art. Offering great literature in great packages at great prices, this series is ideal for those readers who want to explore and savor the Great Ideas that have shaped our world.

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Dover Thrift Editions)

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A vindication of the rights of woman
First Feminist
The times they aren't a-changin'
FOR STUDENTS WHO HAVE BEEN FORCED TO READ THIS
Have we really progressed?

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Dover Thrift Editions)
Mary Wollstonecraft
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486290360

Book Description

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.

Customer Reviews:

A vindication of the rights of woman.......2007-05-07

A historic tract that lives up to its reputation.

It's hard to think that one would read any regency romances without also reading this book.

First Feminist.......2006-12-16

The times they aren't a-changin'.......2001-09-13

It is interesting to teach this book and track how students respond to this book, and how differently male and female students respond to the issues Wollstonecraft raises and discusses. We contextualize the book, and then extract it from its time and place and try to place the issues in our own time and place. A lot of great questions can be raised as we contemplate how far we have and have not come, and what can or should be done about that. . .and who shall do it. It is also an arresting exercise to ask students to apply different literary theories as they discuss this text. The idea is to encourage them to step out of their own shoes and into someone else's as they consider these issues. And it gives great opportunity to ask students to try to separate themselves from their own assumptions and stereotypes about gender and gender behavior, and reassess the issues in Wollstonecraft's time and place, and in light of today's assumptions and stereotypes, which can be harder to quantify than some presume.

FOR STUDENTS WHO HAVE BEEN FORCED TO READ THIS.......2001-08-04

If you need to read this for a college or high school class, or as part of a women's studies project that you are doing for some other purpose, then I'd like to assure you that it won't be all that painful. You may even enjoy it and wish that you'd found this book sooner, all on your own. I was only assigned to read parts of it, but I finished the book by choice.

It's interesting and well writen. Some of the language and nearly all of the issues that are brought up are inflamatory. In class discussions I compared the book to "Fight Club," and was nearly laughed out of the room, but I am at least partly serious. It does have the edge of a social visionary who wanted to shake things up and blow old fashioned society out of the water. No soap bombs, though, but that's only a technicality.

If you have any choice in the matter I would suggest that you choose this book over stuffier works by less forward thinkers. I swear that reading it won't hurt that badly.

Have we really progressed?.......2000-03-09

As I read this book, I find myself comparing the authors examples of the treatment of women by their fathers/husbands with the way women are today treated by the media.

Mary discusses how women are to be kept ignorant of all knowledge and only to be valued for their physical charms (almost every ad on TV/in print). The examples of her contemporaries that she quotes are frighteningly familiar.

Why is this so? Who determines that the education of females is not relevant to society. Sure they are allowed to go to school now, but they are still treated with amazing patronization and condescenscion? The amount of my (intelligent) female friends that insist they are dumb/ignorant/stupid/an idiot is disturbing. Maybe now females are allowed to learn, they should also be allowed self esteem.

Book Description

From Longman's Cultural Editions series, Wollstonecraft, edited by Anne K. Mellor and Noelle Chao, for the first time pairs Wollstonecraft’s feminist tract, the first in English letters, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, with her unfinished novel, The Wrongs of Woman, or Maria.

By putting tract and novel together, this text presents a far richer and more complex discussion of Wollstonecraft’s political and literary opinions. A wealth of cultural contexts bearing on the “wrongs” of woman (their social and political oppression) in the 18 ^th century and on the development of the Gothic and realist novel further clarify these two texts.

Handsomely produced and affordably priced, the Longman Cultural Editions series presents classic works in provocative and illuminating contexts-cultural, critical, and literary. Each Cultural Edition consists of the complete text of an important literary work, reliably edited, headed by an inviting introduction, and supplemented by helpful annotations; a table of dates to track its composition, publication, and public reception in relation to biographical, cultural and historical events; and a guide for further inquiry and study.

On Liberty: Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Audio Classics)

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On Liberty: Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Audio Classics)
John Stuart Mill , and Mary Wollstonecraft
Manufacturer: Carmichael & Carmichael
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

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ASIN: 0938935054

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