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Helen Keller: A Life Paperback – December 15, 1999

by Dorothy Herrmann (Author)

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Dorothy Herrmann's powerful biography of Helen Keller tells the whole story of the controversial and turbulent relationship between Helen and her teacher, Annie Sullivan. Herrmann also chronicles Helen's doomed love affair, her struggles to earn a living, her triumphs at Radcliffe College, and her work as an advocate for the disabled. Helen Keller has been venerated as a saint or damned as a fraud, but Herrmann shows her to have been a beautiful, intelligent, high-strung, and passionate woman whose life was transformed not only by her disabilities but also by the remarkable people on whose help and friendship she relied.

"Fascinating. . . . Stripping away decades of well-meaning sentimentality, Herrmann presents a pair of strong-willed women, who struggled to build their own lives while never forgetting their dependence on each other."—Ron Charles, Christian Science Monitor

"We meet an entirely unexpected Helen Keller—a woman with deep if concealed ambivalence toward her self-sacrificing teacher; a political radical; and a woman longing for romantic love and the fulfilled sexual life of a woman."—Joan Mellen, Philadelphia Inquirer

"Herrmann's portrait of Keller is both fully embodied and unflinchingly candid."—Mary Loeffelholz, Boston Sunday Globe

"This well-proportioned biography of the deaf and blind girl who became a great American crusader rescues its subject from the shackles of sainthood without destroying her as an American hero."—Dennis Drabelle, Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Herrmann's engrossing biography helps us see beyond the public's fascination with how Keller dealt with her disabilities to discover the woman Keller strived to be."—Nancy Seidman, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Perhaps the most intimate biography [of Helen Keller]. [Herrmann] gives her back her sexuality [and] imbues her with a true humanity. . . . Helen Keller: A Life has some of the texture and the dramatic arc of a good novel."—Dinitia Smith, New York Times

Print length

414 pages
Language

English
Publisher

University of Chicago Press
Publication date

December 15, 1999
Dimensions

9.14 x 6.11 x 1.05 inches
ISBN-10

0226327639
ISBN-13

978-0226327631
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Chicago Press; 1st edition (December 15, 1999)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 414 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0226327639
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0226327631
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.14 x 6.11 x 1.05 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,396,363 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,436 in Biographies of People with Disabilities (Books)
- #11,511 in Actor & Entertainer Biographies
- #15,018 in Women's Biographies

Customer Reviews:
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4.4 out of 5

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alison

Awe-inspiring, meticulously researched biography of Helen Keller

Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2021

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At age 66, I have read hundreds of excellent books, including numerous biographies. Nothing I have ever read has come close to Ms. Herrmann's meticulously researched and fascinating account of this extraordinary woman and her equally extraordinary teacher. Like many, I have never stopped to think of how difficult life must be for the blind, let alone the deaf-blind. Ms. Herrmann's book has given me a renewed purpose in life – to donate as much as I can to Helen Keller-related charities. Highly recommended.

One person found this helpful

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Tyler

Must-Read!

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2020

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Excellent, beautiful book. An objective look at the TRUE life of Helen Keller. Moving and emotional and stunning. This book is not just another biography, but a tale of dependence, desire and growth.

4 people found this helpful

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BilMcReader

Goes far beyond the breakthrough at the water pump.

Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2015

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Arrived promptly in great shape. Extremely interesting story of an extraordinary woman. Makes fascinating reading. Good overview of her unequaled life.

One person found this helpful

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Tina Doss

Make sure if you buy a book make sure the binding is on it and it won’t come off

Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2018

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Product was damaged the book was not in the binding and it is not refundable I may not return a bowl not refundable but not return Obel

One person found this helpful

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Barbara Lewis

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2015

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Great product. Fast delivery. Perfect!

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Linda Bulger

A long life of service

Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2009

The facts of Helen Keller's early life are widely known, thanks to the 1959 stage play (and later film) by William Gibson, The Miracle Worker . There are a number of excellent biographies detailing Helen's later life, and in fact her own autobiographical books remain in print and testify to her wide interests and sometimes startling achievements. Biographer Dorothy Herrmann's Helen Keller: A Life , first published in 1999, is a comprehensive addition to the canon.

Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama in 1880. At the age of nineteen months she was stricken with scarlet fever--or perhaps rubella or meningitis, according to Herrmann--and was left blind, deaf and mute. When she was seven years old she was released from her isolation by the young Annie Sullivan who taught her to communicate by spelling into her hand.

Annie stayed on as teacher, translator, editor and companion until her death in 1936, after which the torch was passed to other companion-caregivers. Helen spent some time at the Perkins Institute for the Blind, always primarily under Annie's tutelage, and later was admitted to Radcliffe College, becoming the first deaf blind person ever awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree. In spite of the difficulties that writing and editing presented to her, Helen wrote a number of books and articles throughout her life. She had close relationships with Alexander Graham Bell, Samuel Clemens, and a number of other notables of her time. Earning a living for herself and her entourage was always a necessity for Helen, and she spent four years on the vaudeville circuit with an act detailing her life and accomplishments. She also earned a living through writing and extensive lecturing (with the assistance of Annie Sullivan, who interpreted for her). In later life she became a fundraiser for the American Foundation for the Blind, and traveled extensively around the world on speaking and fundraising tours. She did this work until she was incapacitated by a series of strokes, six years before her death in 1968 at nearly 88 years of age.

Helen's passion for better opportunities for the disabled led her to the same desire for the working classes; she was a radical socialist, suffragist, member of the activist labor union International Workers of the World (the Wobblies), and a pacifist who opposed the U.S. entry into the First World War.

Author Herrmann thoroughly details the point of view that Helen, dependent as she was on her companions to "frame" the world for her, was to some extent a construct of those companions. Herrmann maintains that Helen was presented to the world as a "secular saint" because that's what the world wanted to see in a handicapped person. Her radical political attitudes, which themselves are attributed largely to Annie's husband John Macy, were a source of embarrassment to Helen's family and her benefactors, and eventually to the Foundation for the Blind which suppressed mention of them as much as possible. The Foundation also in later years controlled all photos of Helen and only allowed publication of those which made her look sweet, happy--and "normal."

Helen, for all the wonderful achievements of her life and the awards that were bestowed on her, was never able to live independently. Herrmann finishes with the factors that influence a deaf-blind person's possibilities. Those who are raised deaf and later become blind (or vice versa), for example, are in a different situation from those deaf and blind from birth. She briefly outlines modern teaching philosophies that allow the deaf-blind to live more independent lives, and mentions a number of high-achieving deaf-blind people who have benefited from them.

Helen Keller was a child of her time. Once the life of a Southern belle was taken from her by disability, her outlook was extremely grim--until Annie Sullivan came into her life. However the credit for Helen's accomplishments is divided up, whatever the truth behind the legend, she must be recognized as one of the outstanding women of her age. Dorothy Herrmann asks many questions that can't be answered, and that's not a bad thing in a biography of a woman so well-documented but so unknowable.

I listened to the unabridged audio of this book (which is not available through Amazon), read by Mary Peiffer.

Linda Bulger, 2009

8 people found this helpful

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Marchman

A "revisionist" biography of Helen Keller.

Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2024

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This biography is about half the size of the only other major biographical work on the life of Helen Keller (Joseph Lash's 800 page volume from 1980). While well-written, it suffers from the need to expose or downgrade major characters in Keller's life, including the subject herself, Annie Sullivan, and others, often assigning them motives not justified by the facts (such as remarking that 8 yr old Helen's Christmas gift to another child was done to enhance her standing with adults). Hence the book is heavy with interpretation, which is always revisionist and skeptical, revising downward the popular, heroic reputations of major figures such as Sullivan. This attitude becomes irritating and distracting. Lash's book, though long, is more objective and interesting.

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Mary E. Miles

"Helen Keller" book by Dorothy Hermann--another "must" for the home library--especially one with children.

Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2016

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This is another book that I have in my library. It is such a tender and touching bio about Helen Keller--who just happens to be another GREAT Alabamian!

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Carlton

Was a gift. My friend really enjoyed it.

Reviewed in Canada on January 2, 2024

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Very informative. It’s a big book.

Steph

Moving!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 2, 2013

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I've found the story of Helen Killer so moving - the book gives alot of detail and information about the education of the deaf/ blind, and how nowadays people with similar handicaps are achieving much more than ever thought possible.

One person found this helpful

david

Finally some background and solid info...

Reviewed in Germany on December 18, 2012

Verified Purchase

Great book, recommended for anyone who wants a full picture, rather than just the story for 8 year-olds... Very well written.

Dimples

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 19, 2018

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Very interesting

One person found this helpful

Hybrid

Four Stars

Reviewed in Canada on June 13, 2017

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The book is great, the cover is awesome, the delivery was fast

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