Vindication: A Life of Mary Wollstonecraft

“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

The founder of modern feminism, Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was the most famous woman in Europe and America in her time. Yet her reputation over the years has suffered—until now. Acclaimed biographer Lyndall Gordon mounts a spirited defense of this brilliant, unconventional woman who held strikingly modern notions of education, single motherhood, family responsibilities, working life, domestic affections, friendships, and sexual relationships.

Offering a new interpretation for the 21st century, Gordon paints a vibrant, full portrait of Wollstonecraft, revealing how this remarkable woman’s genius reverberated through the generations, influencing not only her daughter, Mary Shelley, and other heirs, but early political philosophy in England and America as well—including the ideas of John and Abigail Adams.

“Fierce and wonderful. . . . [Wollstonecraft is] a dazzling character on the brilliant page.” —Harper’s Magazine

“Rich with new interpretations, sources, and detail . . . Captures the drama of Wollstonecraft’s life.” —Library Journal (starred review)

“Imaginative and intelligent, consistently absorbing . . . [Gordon] speculates and probes with a freewheeling intelligence that responds to Wollstonecraft’s own.” —New York Review of Books

“Adventurous scholarship. . . . [Gordon’s] fresh approach places this early feminist in the context of the American and French Revolutions.” —Washington Post

“Judicious, sympathetic, intelligent and utterly riveting.” —The Independent

“Eminently readable and rewarding.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

© 2023 HarperCollins e-books (Ebook): 9780061866005

Release date

Ebook: 15 December 2023