Edited by William McCarthy and Elizabeth Kraft are considered pre-eminent authorities on Barbauld [1743-1825]. When she died in 1825, Barbauld was considered one of the great writers of her time. She was an innovator in children's literature, a great literary critic, and eloquent in her support of liberal political causes. A historical introduction and notes by the editors place Barbauld's life and work in the context of middle-class Dissenting culture. Distinguished among Dissenting writers like Priestley, Wollstonecraft, and Coleridge, Barbauld's complex positions on womanhood, religtion, and politics are often misunderstood. The poems and essays reveal her rhetorical powers. Many of the poems presented have not been reprinted until this volume. Some pencil marginalia. Broadview Literary Texts. 2002. USED. $8.00