Ahead of her time
Subtitle: a sampler of the life and thought of Mary Wollstonecraft
By: selected and arranged by Ella Mazel.
Contributors: Mazel, Ella.
Publisher: Bernel Books; Distributed by Brunner/Mazel
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Larchmont, N.Y; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 117
Subjects: Wollstonecraft, Mary, 1759-1797.; Wollstonecraft, Mary, 1759-1797 -- Correspondence.; Authors, English -- 18th century -- Biography.; Feminists -- Great Britain -- Biography.; Social problems -- Early works to 1800.; Women's rights -- Early works to 1800.; Feminism -- Early works to 1800.
Genres: Early works to 1800.
Description: Over two hundred years ago in England, this extraordinary young woman described herself as "the first of a new genus" - an unmarried female who supported herself by her own mental labors as writer, reviewer, and translator.

In 1792, she created a furor with A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, her impassioned plea for the liberation of her half of the human race. Nevertheless, in the repressive political climate of the period, the book was virtually buried along with its author, who died tragically five years later at the age of thirty-eight.

Today, however, Mary Wollstonecraft is universally acknowledged as the pioneer advocate of women's rights. But she was more than that. Her genius and breadth of vision enabled her to relate the status of women to human rights in general, to education, and to social justice.

In this selection of passages from her published letters and writings, the most cogent of her arguments and observations - on topics ranging from marriage and the frippery of dress and behavior to economic exploitation and political corruption - can be enjoyed and appreciated for the way she "speaks to us today across a gap of almost two centuries with a voice of courage and hope," as Eleanor Flexner wrote in a 1972 biography.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 114-117).
"Being excerpts from her letters and writings on women's rights; the rights of man; the French Revolution; education; moral values; the slavery of marriage; social justice; wealth and poverty; the evils of power and property; the venality of politicians; and her own account of her struggle for independence; her unconventional life; her ill-fated liason with Gilbert Imlay; and her finding happiness at last with William Godwin before her early death following the birth of her daughter Mary, the future author of Frankenstein."