A Vindication of the Rights of Men & A Vindication of the Rights of Woman & An Historical and Moral View of the French Revolution

by Mary Wollstonecraft, Janet Todd (Editor)

This volume brings together the major political writings of Mary Wollstonecraft in the order in which they appeared in the revolutionary 1790s. It traces her passionate and indignant response to the excitement of the early days of the French Revolution and then her uneasiness at its later bloody phase. It reveals her developing understanding of women's involvement in the political and social life of the nation and her growing awareness of the relationship between politics and economics and between political institutions and the individual. In personal terms, the works show her struggling with a belief in the perfectibility of human nature through rational education, a doctrine that became weaker under the onslaught of her own miserable experience and the revolutionary massacres.

Janet Todd's introduction illuminates the progress of Wollstonecraft's thought, showing that a reading of all three works allows her to emerge as a more substantial political writer than a study of The Rights of Woman alone can reveal.

Genres: Feminism, Philosophy, Nonfiction, History, Classics, Politics, French Revolution

464 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Mary Wollstonecraft was an eighteenth century British writer, philosopher, and feminist. Among the general public and specifically among feminists, Wollstonecraft's life has received much more attention than her writing because of her unconventional, and often tumultuous, personal relationships. After two ill-fated affairs, with Henry Fuseli and Gilbert Imlay, Wollstonecraft married the philosopher William Godwin, one of the forefathers of the anarchist movement; they had one daughter, Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. Wollstonecraft died at the age of thirty-eight due to complications from childbirth, leaving behind several unfinished manuscripts.

During her brief career, she wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children's book. Wollstonecraft is best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), in which she argues that women are not naturally inferior to men, but appear to be only because they lack education. She suggests that both men and women should be treated as rational beings and imagines a social order founded on reason.


After Wollstonecraft's death, Godwin published a Memoir (1798) of her life, revealing her unorthodox lifestyle, which inadvertently destroyed her reputation for a century. However, with the emergence of the feminist movement at the turn of the twentieth century, Wollstonecraft's advocacy of women's equality and critiques of conventional femininity became increasingly important. Today Wollstonecraft is regarded as one of the founding feminist philosophers, and feminists often cite both her life and work as important influences.

Information courtesy of Wikipedia.org

Reviews

[Bonnie G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this for the first time when I was 19 and it fundamentally shaped the way I looked at history and feminist theory. Later reads might not have yielded anything so revolutionary, but still informed my beliefs. Radical in the best ways.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off, a disclaimer that I did not read the third text in this edition, actually an excerpt from An Historical and Moral View of the French Revolution. I wanted to give Wollstonecraft’s two Vindications a joint rating, though, in order to avoid subtracting a star from the later, more famous text – because one may as well sooner read A Vindication of the Rights of Men! Honestly, it’s Vindication of Woman distilled to its premises, argued less tediously, and engaged with an effective distribution of topics – more quickly read and better digested. In fact, I would have said (and not lightly) that an anthologized portion of Vindication of Woman would do for the whole, since I really hate to imagine what level of redundancy Wollstonecraft might have realized in her projected second volume! This is certainly a text overshadowed by its reputation – and how many of its latter-day feminist fans even know about Rights of Men (whose non-gendered argument, it must be said, Wollstonecraft followed with Rights of Woman)? Acknowledge Wollstonecraft’s progress, by means of an Enlightened adherence to “Reason,” from equality in civil terms to moral virtue on religious grounds? Admit that Wollstonecraft’s notorious proto-feminism promotes women as “more observant daughters, more affectionate sisters, more faithful wives, more reasonable mothers”? Rather than perpetuate the ongoing feminist appropriation of Wollstonecraft encouraged by, let’s say, selective reading practices, I guess I’d suggest reading that anthology closely, and maybe looking at just one more, for an appreciation of the truly insightful, courageous, impressive thinking Wollstonecraft develops more efficiently in her earlier, shorter Vindication.

[Annemarie Donahue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellently written book full of passion. While Wollstonecraft was regarded as a more enthusiastic writer and less of a valid political critic it is evident that her apt view and reasoning were a valueable commodity to her throughout the French Revolution (as a foreign observer) and during the political upheaval of Britian. Her thoughts, views and blatant attacks on Ed. Burke were valued, highly regarded and poignant. I would recommend this book to anyone.

Warning: Her warmness to the French revolution cools quickly after her trip in 1792 during the Terror as she sees that the populace have become ruled by passion and bloodlust. She is dissappointed to see that this glorious revolution was an all-boys club with no intention of educating or elevating women and would soon become just as corrupt (if not more so) than the regime it replaced.

[Sherrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm amazed and a little sad that a book written in 1792 remains so relevant to modern life. Mary Wollstonecraft gets to the heart of many issues in society by realizing that a person's behavior and interests are closely tied to the education and opportunities they've had available. She comes back to this truth repeatedly as she breaks down different ways that society fails people...especially women.

The last portion of the book is on her assessment of the driving factors in the French revolution. I did not expect to be blown away by this section, but hoo boy. Perhaps we Americans should spend more time studying the French revolution. It feels incredibly relevant. Too relevant.

While I'm glad I read this book, it was a reminder of how challenging it is to read writing from the 1700s. Their style of prose is much more nuanced than modern writing and a lot of the subtlety is lost on a modern reader. I spent a lot of time in the footnotes in order to understand (the editor did an excellent job on this front), which makes it hard to truly enjoy the book. This 371 page book took me 2 months to read.

[Coco Smit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dense read but with beautiful poetical prose, Mary Wollstonecraft takes down Burke and Rousseau.

Vindications of the Rights of Men was a more difficult read, I haven't read Edmund Burke's texts and the writing was clearly more meant for him than for the public.

Vindications of the Rights of Woman is a far easier read and you can tell she wrote this for a more wider public. Still it is rich in prose. I was however happy to have read about the French Revolution earlier and having read a biography of Mary's life too. I wouldn't say the latter is necessary but it does help to understand where her frustration about women's rights and education is coming from.

One surprising point for me was her proclamation for a mixed boy-girl school. She clearly saw things with a more modern mind than her contemporaries.

[Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually got to read, touch, flip through a first edition of this work while I was doing some research for a former professor of mine (bless her). It was one of the top 10 moments of my life.

[Bárbara]

*No rating, read for college

[Orgofr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Those books were arques honably outstanding

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

“ This is the point I am at. I do not wish them ( women) to have power over men, but to have power over themselves “
Published in 1792, this book of Wollstonecraft’s essays on the differences between the sexes, the reasons so, and her solutions to any problems ( education!) are certainly stunning for the time. She was a great thinker and her ability to lay out her theories were amazing. I certainly found it very enjoyable, although, thankfully, we have come a long way.

[dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

i want every line tattooed on my face

[Devin · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading these three works from the late 1700s, I have to say, they’re still relevant. They’re depressingly relevant in fact, because many of the issues she dealt with remain intractable.

It’s also very instructive to see how she approached the topic from her time period and perspective. If you’re interested in feminism or justice for mankind, this book will be one you eventually come across. It deals with a very interesting historical time period, and for readers today the writing is still sharp and direct.

[Meg · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to read this for my 18th century literature class. It had interesting points, but overall not the most engaging read.

[Suzănica Tănase · Rating 4 out of 5]

First wave feminism. For 1975, pretty bold and important arguments.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review was just for A Vindication of the Rights of Men (I had read Rights of Woman prior)...

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book, one of my favorites, ideal to nurture knowledge and know more about the subject, my favorites totally!

[Mary Flynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

The Vindication of the Rights of Women was a very interesting and insightful read, but packaged with two less interesting ones.

[audrey cenatiempo · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars :) read for class !

[Maan Kawas · Rating 5 out of 5]

such a great book!!!!

[Bruno Dal Molin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty cool, especially VotRoW, her most famous essay. Places reason above almost everything, is a Christian, shits on Burke, wants chicks to get education, etc, etc.

[Bel]

I feel really bad DNFing this but I am not sure what more I can get out of it. Apparently Wollstonecraft wrote this in a hurry, and it shows. She sets out most of her points in the introduction and then goes around and around and around making them over and over again. The style is slow going, but that's not why I stopped. I feel like I have got the message, and I can't bring myself to plough slowly through the rest.

A Vindication of the Rights of Women is obviously a very important book, and it is right that Wollstonecraft has been given a great deal of credit for it down the years. She is responding directly to immediately contemporary and slightly earlier writers, very much throwing herself into the fray. It's a fascinating period in European history, and kudos to her for bringing women to the forefront of it.

It is obviously of its time in many ways. It won't go so far as to say that men and women can be intellectual equals, and its appeals for the education of women as presented as to the benefit of men (appropriately, as it is men who have the power to change things). Also, arguments that start from the premise "given that God also gave women a soul" and argue logically from there sort of fall at the first hurdle for me, although I can appreciate the ingenuity of her position.

One for academic study, I think. Casual readers might want to pick up one of the various heavily abridged versions that are available.

[Ruchi Chaube · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this piece taking it as a pasttime to trifle myself with one of those mediaval sagas full of womenly melodrama. But to what i found instead is must to be told! This book was written in the 18th century, the author Mary Wollstonecraft has raised some of the issues which have staggered the position of women in the society then and to my surprise have not changed much till date! The author has a viewpoint on how the social grooming play a part on women's sufferings, and to the author it is the woman herself who has to be blammed. Contemporary feminine writers encounter the same point when they write about womanly affairs but striking is that why it has not hit hard enough to make a real change till now. Maybe seeing from the past might lay some insight on why and how things go wrong. It is a short book written in the form of essays and sure to be considered.

[yoli · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting, we did not read all of it, I'd say about 2/3 and Wollstonecraft's put herself in an interesting dilemma: how do you go about convincing men that women's educations and lives must be enriched because at present they are foolish, useless things--without undermining your own argument because you ARE a woman?

Great historical text, not as much fun to read. I'd recommend listening to it (try Librivox.org) only because I have yet to actually physically look at the text, but know that doing so would cause my head to spin. It's in that high-minded political language that few can understand.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book about why women will never succeed behaving like women. It was written in the 1800's - I think (look it up because I don't remember) and, when I read it, it blew my mind. To me, it seems that not much has changed in what holds women back from succeeding in society and being made equal citizens - even though Wollstonecraft was writing in a society in which women were not allowed to vote, among other things.

[Abrandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

terrific, thoughtful, persuasive, assertive treatise with an especial retort to the stodgy conservatism of landed aristocracy(Edmund Burke) as compared with the political ambition and motivation to succeed of the working class and of the political consciousness of the middle class from the era of the French Revolution.

[Julissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wollstonecraft works to analysis and critique thinkers of The Enlightenment - Wollstonecraft’s writing projects her fight for the equality that America was supposed to be built on, and she questions the systems that have been in place and American morals. Interesting read for those interested in studying women's rights in America.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I added this one for the Rights of Man treatise.

[Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The victory's we win are not measured in the time it took.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. Mary Wollstonecraft is my goddess. Read this and enrich your life.

[86]

If you haven't read A Vindication on the Rights of Woman yet be sure to get a full version of the text! Many incomplete versions exist and you'll only be disappointed.

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it, one of my favorite books