"Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, first published in 1792, is a work of enduring relevance in women's rights advocacy. However, as Sylvana Tomaselli shows, a full understanding of Wollstonecraft's thought is possible only through a more comprehensive appreciation of Wollstonecraft herself, as a philosopher and moralist who deftly tackled major social and political issues and the arguments of such figures as Edmund Burke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Adam Smith. Reading Wollstonecraft through the lens of the politics and culture of her own time, this book restores her to her rightful place as a major eighteenth-century thinker, reminding us why her work still resonates today. The book's format echoes one that Wollstonecraft favored in Thoughts on the Education of Daughters: short essays paired with concise headings. Under titles such as "Painting," "Music," "Memory," "Property and Appearance," and "Rank and Luxury," Tomaselli explores not only what Wollstonecraft enjoyed and valued, but also her views on society, knowledge and the mind, human nature, and the problem of evil--and how a society based on mutual respect could fight it. The resulting picture of Wollstonecraft reveals her as a particularly engaging author and an eloquent participant in enduring social and political concerns."--.

• Cover
• Contents
• Acknowledgments ·
• Introduction
• CHAPTER 1: What She Liked and Loved
  • The Theater
  • Painting
  • Music
  • Poetry
  • Nature
  • Reading
  • Love and Friendship
  • Concluding Reflections
• CHAPTER 2: Who Are We? What Are We Made Of?
  • The Unity of Humanity
  • Slavery
  • Human Nature
  • The Imagination
  • Memory
  • Sensory Experience and the Association of Ideas
  • Reason
  • Mind, Body, and Soul
  • The Will
  • The Passions, the Appetites, and Emotions
  • Concluding Reflections
• CHAPTER 3: What Went Wrong? The World as It Was
  • Evil and Perfection
  • Writing the History of Civilization
  • The State of Nature and First Societies
  • Rank and Womanhood
  • Burke’s Reflections
  • Burke, Wollstonecraft, Appearing and Being
  • Dependence
  • The Many Consequences of Inheritance
  • Property and Appearance
  • Idleness
  • Inequality or Vanity?
  • Concluding Reflections
• CHAPTER 4: What She Wished and Wanted
  • Writing for Society as It Is and for Society as It Ought to Be
  • A New Idea of Woman, but Also of Man
  • The Declaration of the Rights of Woman, Patriotism, and the Progress of Civilization
  • The Limits of Education
  • The Enlightened World of the Future
  • Commerce and the Division of Labor
  • Rank and Luxury
  • Effeminacy and Vanity
  • The Virtues
  • Marriage, Sex, and Friendship
  • In Sum
  • The World to Come
• CHAPTER 5: A Life Unfinished
• Bibliography ​·
• Index ​·