Early Feminists and the Education Debates: England, France, Germany 1760-1810

This book examines late eighteenth- and early nineteenth century debates on the education of girls and women from spectrum of transnational as well as culturally specific ideological standpoints. As educational reformists of the period could not expect acceptance of their views, they creatively adapted several genres, including periodicals, commissioned plans, treatises, petitions, manifestos, curricular plans, and fictional letters to sway potentially hostile audiences. The reformists are presented chronologically and include Sophie von La Roche, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, Nicholas Caritat de Condorcet, Catharine Macaulay, Mary Wollstonecraft, Theodor von Hippel, Amalia Holst, and Betty Gleim. Historical background on women's education in German lands, England, and France, as well as on relevant political events, it provided for novice readers in this field to fully appreciate discussion of the texts examined in the major chapters. Carol Strauss Sotiropoulos teaches at Northern Michigan University.