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.
Lyndall Gordon lives in Oxford, England. She is the author of highly acclaimed biographies of Virginia Woolf, Charlotte Brontë, T. S. Eliot, and Henry James. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Senior Research Fellow at St. Hilda's College, Oxford.