Vindication - by Lyndall Gordon (Paperback)

Number of Pages: 562
Genre: Biography + Autobiography
Sub-Genre: Women
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Age Range: Adult
Author: Lyndall Gordon
Language: English

About the Book

"Published in Great Britain in 2005 under the title: Mary Wollstonecraft by Little, Brown"--T.p. verso.

Book Synopsis

The founder of modern feminism, Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was the most famous woman of her era. A brilliant, unconventional rebel vilified for her strikingly modern notions of education, family, work, and personal relationships, she nevertheless strongly influenced political philosophy in Europe and a newborn America. Now acclaimed biographer Lyndall Gordon mounts a spirited defense of this courageous woman whose reputation has suffered over the years by painting a full and vibrant portrait of an extraordinary historical figure who was generations ahead of her time.

Review Quotes

"[A] distinguished biographer...Gordon offers fresh detail and insight...[Her] biography is eminently readable and rewarding."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Gordon relates Wollstonecraft's story with the same potent mixture of passion and reason her subject personified...Wonderful, and deeply sobering."--New York Times Book Review

"[Wollstonecraft's] aspirations to greatness...keep breaking through Ms. Gordon's wonderfully wrought book like flashes of lightning."--New York Sun

"A sobering and inspirational read for women today. Readers who delve into it will meet a brave, visionary woman."--Richmond Times-Dispatch

"Exceptional, emotionally overwhelming . . . A 360-degree exploration of Wollstonecraft in her era--and beyond."--Newsday

"Fierce and wonderful. . . . [Wollstonecraft is] a dazzling character on the brilliant page."--John Leonard, Harper's Magazine

"Gordon vindicates this once-vilified 'hyena in petticoats' as a melancholy, complex, heroic feminist, stunningly ahead of her time."--Bust Magazine

"Imaginative and intelligent, consistently absorbing... [Gordon] speculates and probes with a freewheeling intelligence that responds to Wollstonecraft's own."--New York Review of Books

"Judicious, sympathetic, intelligent and utterly riveting . . . Gordon rescues Wollstonecraft from both reactionary disdain and soft-focus feminist sentiment."--The Independent

"Rich with new interpretations, sources, and detail . . . Captures the drama of Wollstonecraft's life."--Library Journal (starred review)