Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the founding feminist philosophers. Her 1792 work “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” is one of the classic works on women’s rights. It is still quoted today. But during her lifetime, she was known more for her passionate personal relationships than she was for her writing. For example, she had two ill-fated affairs (one of which produced an illegitimate child), before finally marrying the anarchist philosopher William Godwin. But unlike her eventual husband, Mary Wollstonecraft was no anarchist. She was instead an unapologetic feminist, whose works would have a lasting impact on feminist theory.
Mary Wollstonecraft
This audiobook seems to be as much a biography as it is an examination of her political ideas. But it certainly does go into those ideas in some detail. At this time, there were few educational opportunities available to women, because men believed that they were “not capable” of receiving a rational education. To modern ears, some of her arguments might seem at first to be something like an “unconditional surrender.” For example, she argued that if women lacked education, it was because gender discrimination put it out of their reach. But this was no “surrender” – she was noting the inconsistency of their dismissing women for “lacking” education, while at the same time denying them the opportunity to obtain such education. She believed that women could indeed become formally educated, and her prophecy has come true.
Mary Wollstonecraft
She wrote on other subjects besides political philosophy. These included novels and children’s books, as well as a nonfiction work on the history of the French Revolution. Her second daughter (Mary Shelley) would later write the original “Frankenstein” novel. But sadly, Mary Shelley never knew her mother, because Wollstonecraft died only 11 days after giving birth to this other great author. They note Wollstonecraft’s other accomplishments in this audiobook, because it is as much a biography as it is a political theory work. Nonetheless, this is first and foremost an exploration of her political philosophy, and covers an oft-forgotten contribution to the campaigns for women’s rights.
Mary Shelley, Wollstonecraft’s famous daughter
This audiobook is coupled with another audiobook about John Stuart Mill’s “On Liberty.” Why these two audiobooks are coupled together, I have no idea. I suppose that it was because John Stuart Mill was an accomplished campaigner for women’s rights himself. Indeed, his influence is acknowledged as such even by many women today. But I have no way of knowing why they chose to couple these two audiobooks together. Mary Wollstonecraft died nearly nine years before John Stuart Mill was born. Thus, they were from somewhat different eras. She lived in the eighteenth century, while he lived in the nineteenth century.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed both of these audiobooks, and appreciated getting two of them for the price of one. I particularly learned a lot from this Mary Wollstonecraft installment, since I had never read any of her works before. I still haven’t read any of her works, and may never find the time to do so. Thus, this audiobook was particularly appreciated, giving me a helpful summary of her main ideas and accomplishments. I highly recommend this audiobook to anyone who wants to learn about Mary Wollstonecraft, her works, or about women’s history more generally.
If you liked this post, you might also like:
Part of the audiobook series
The Giants of Political Thought
Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Others to be covered later
See also the audiobook series
The United States Constitution
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