About the Author

Mary Shelley was born in London in 1797, daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, famous radical writers of the day. She is the author of Frankenstein (1818), The Last Man (1826), and other works. John Havard (introduction) teaches at the State University of New York, Binghamton, where his work focuses on 18th-century and Romantic literature and political culture. His essays about literature and politics have appeared in The New Rambler, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and Public Books. Rebecca Solnit (foreword) is the author of more than 20 books, including Orwell's Roses, Recollections of My Nonexistence, A Field Guide to Getting Lost, and Men Explain Things to Me. She is a regular contributor to The Guardian and other publications.