Mary Hilton addresses a neglected area in historical research by examining the educational writings of leading women moralists and activists, including Sarah Fielding, Hester Chapone, Sarah Trimmer, Maria Edgeworth, Jane Marcet, and Mary Carpenter. In connecting the young citizen, the family, and the local parish to wider social, religious, and political issues, these women moralists were highly influential in the public realm, spurring their many readers to action and reform.