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The Vindication of the rights of woman by Mary Wollstonecraft was published in 1790.
Mary Wollstonecraft’s book was the first of its kind. Mary was also somewhat of an English radical. She was a woman trapped in a controlled man’s world, and denied her potential in society. During this time it was much unheard of a professional woman writer. According to Virgina Woolf, “The professional woman writer, the independent intellectual woman, was in fact an emerging species and Wollstonecraft played an important role in defining it.”(Woolf, p.102) Also, Kristen Osborn's views that, “The introduction sets out her view that neglect of girls’ education is largely to blame for the condition of adult women. They are treated as subordinate beings who care only about being attractive, elegant, and meek, they buy into this oppression, and they do not have the tools to vindicate their fundamental rights or the awareness that they are in such a condition.”(Osborne) Wollstonecraft’s over all influence on feminist scholarship is why this book should be saved for preservation.<!--more-->

This book was not typical of its era. It was considered to be very distasteful. “In the first chapter Wollstonecraft promotes reason and rationality and discusses the deleterious effects of absolute, arbitrary political power and the vices associated with riches and hereditary honors.” (Osborne) This work was not received well at all during its time. This was a book against all that woman had been taught and how they were raised, it was strongly against their trained morals of the time. “Women's confinement in the home and inability to participate in the public sphere results in their insipidness and pettiness. Wollstonecraft wants to inspire a "revolution in female manners."”(Osborne) “They tend to cultivate weakness and artificiality to appear pleasing to others. They are seldom independent and tend not to exercise reason.” (Osborne)

Another book that Mary Wollstonecraft wrote had to do with attack on the French Revolution Convention. “In 1789 the Bastille had fallen; in 1790 Edmund Burke published his notorious attack on the French revolutionary Convention which outraged all the English radicals, including Mary Wollstonecraft” (Wollstonecraft, sec. xi) “This is what causes Mary to write a refutation. To which she wrote her “Vindication of the Rights of Men. Which became an immediate success; its author a new literary lioness.”(Wollstonecraft, xi) This book is what put Mary in the top elite writers.

People today except and cherish Mary Wollstonecraft books. Today it is an exceptional piece of literature. The book is widely accepted by a wide array of people. Women have a whole lot more rights today than they did back then. Women are allowed to be free from the ways of the past. Also, woman can work and do as they please and be accepted in today's society.

My personal reaction to this book is I strongly agree. It is a new day from the past. Woman have fought and died for the freedoms that all woman have today. Women have the right to vote, to have their voices heard. Women are proving that any job a man can do they can do too. Women have come a long way from the 1790’s.

There were several different types of work during this time. Here are a few of the books that were published at the same time to give you an idea of what people were reading: “The Monk (Paperback) by Matthew Gregory Lewis is about “Dreams, magic terrors, spells of mighty power,Witches, and ghosts who rove at midnight hour.”(Gutenberg). Another book was Lady Susan (Paperback) by Jane Austen is about “a stunningly beautiful widow in her upper thirties, has just been sent packing from the home of a family she had spent some months with, having been discovered carrying on a flagrant affair with the husband of the family, right under his wife's nose.”(Austen) Songs of Innocence and of Experience (Paperback) by William Blake was about “The publication of Songs of Innocence began his series of “Illuminated Books,” in which Blake combined text and visual artwork to achieve his poetic effect. Blake always intended the poems of Songs of Innocence to be accompanied by their respective illustrations, making analysis of the texts alone problematic at times.”(Gordon) So you can see Wollstonecraft’s book was very different than anything being published of its time.

This book is very significant for the future generations. The future generations must learn of the past trials and tribulations of the past. Until all bans on people’s rights and freedoms no matter what your race, gender, age are lifted people will not really be free to live a free life.

Work Cited
Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc, 1992. Print.
Virginia Woolf, “Mary Wollstonecraft” in her woman and writing, 1979, p.102
Osborne, Kristen. Kissel, Adam ed. "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman Summary". GradeSaver, 31 March 2012 Web. 9 October 2013.
Gordon, Todd. Wang, Bella ed. "Songs of Innocence and of Experience Summary". GradeSaver, 31 May 2011 Web. 14 October 2013.
"Popular 1790s Books." Popular 1790s Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=3273994&amp;pageno=1
"Lady Susan." By Jane Austen. Search EText, Read Online, Study, Discuss. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.