Sydney Ladensohn Stern author of Gloria Steinem: Her Passions, Politics, and Mystique Diane Jacobs has created a sympathetic but honest portrait of one of feminism's primary intellectual foremothers. An engaging storyteller, Jacobs portrays her brilliant but evidently infuriating subject with insight and humor. Her Own Woman reveals not only the publication of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman but also Wollstonecraft's discovery of sex. A fascinating read.
Marion Meade author of Eleanor of Aquitaine If anybody embodies the modern feminist maxim "The Personal is Political," it's Mary Wollstonecraft, who seems to be as revolutionary today as she was in the eighteenth century. Her life oozed extravagant high drama and emotional cliff-hangers. When your subject is renowned for rushing to extremes, the prudent biographer knows to remain calm and step out of the way. In this enormously sympathetic biography, Diane Jacobs has handled a legendary hot potato -- a woman for all seasons and all centuries -- with admirable patience and common sense.
Stacy Schiff author of Véra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov) Mary Wollstonecraft's courage continues to dazzle. Diane Jacobs showcases it beautifully in this lucid and absorbing biography.
Brenda Wineapple author of Sister, Brother: Gertrude and Leo Stein Set against the stirring backdrop of the French Revolution, Jacobs's spirited account of Mary Wollstonecraft sensitively portrays a bold woman in full dress: renowned author, unwed mother, rational feminist, headstrong and loving -- in short, an intelligent woman fully alive to her times and able to imagine ours.