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Bedtime Biography: Vindication summary

Lyndall Gordon

A Life of Mary Wollstonecraft

4.6 (226 ratings)
30 mins

Brief summary

Bedtime Biography: Vindication by Lyndall Gordon reveals the true story of Mary Wollstonecraft, an unsung feminist philosopher in the 18th century. It sheds light on her life, achievements, and contradictions that continue to inspire or challenge the modern world.

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    Bedtime Biography: Vindication
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    Introduction

    Bedtime Biographies are best when listened to. Check out the audio version to get the full experience!

    Today, Mary Wollstonecraft is enshrined in history as a hero of the women’s rights movement –⁠ perhaps even the very first feminist. She was, in her own words, “the first of a new genus”: a woman who dared to question the reigning belief that women were born inferior to men. 

    Wollstonecraft’s most famous piece of writing, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, made her a celebrity both in her own time and after her death. But what inspired Mary to fight so spiritedly for women’s emancipation? What life experiences shaped her views? Find out in this bedtime biography.

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    What is Bedtime Biography: Vindication about?

    Narrated by Karen Cass

    Vindication (2006) tells the inspiring, thrilling, and often tragic tale of the life of Mary Wollstonecraft, known today as the founder of modern feminism. Drawing on significant moments in Wollstonecraft’s life, from her childhood in an abusive household to her experiences co-founding a school and living in Revolutionary France, it paints a picture of a woman who was as complex as she was brilliant. Throughout every stage of her life, Wollstonecraft was truly an original thinker, and her influence on feminist thought continues to ring out today.

    Who should read Bedtime Biography: Vindication?

    • Feminists and people interested in the history of women
    • Fans of stories about tragic heroes
    • Anyone fascinated by the personal lives of famous historical figures

    About the Author

    Lyndall Gordon is a senior research fellow at Oxford University and the author of nine biographies on literary figures. Several of her works have won awards, including Eliot’s Early Years, a biography of T.S. Eliot; Virginia Woolf: A Writer’s Life; and Charlotte Brontë: A Passionate Life.

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