Helen Keller: The Story of My Life (Dover Thrift Editions)
by Helen Keller
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Book Summary Information
Author: Helen KellerEditor: Candace Ward
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1996-09-18
ISBN: 0486292495
Number of pages: 80
Publisher: Dover Publications
Book Reviews of Helen Keller: The Story of My Life (Dover Thrift Editions)
Book Review: Helen Keller Story
Summary: 5 Stars
I ordered this for a friend of mine for her birthday which is not here yet. She will be pleased to receive this as a gift because she is all taken up with the Helen Keller Story. She has ason with seven disabilities and feels that if Helen Keller could over come what she did he can over come and become something. She has wanted this and could not find it and she doesn't know that I have it for her. Thank you for the prompt service and the great condition of the book.
Summary of Helen Keller: The Story of My Life (Dover Thrift Editions)
Great story of human courage and dedication recounted in autobiography of a remarkable woman: the magical moment when Miss Keller first recognizes the connection between words and objects, her joy at learning how to speak, friendships with notable figures, her education at Radcliffe and an extraordinary relationship with her inspired teacher, Anne Sullivan. An unforgettable portrait of one of the 20th century's outstanding women.Helen Keller would not be bound by conditions. Rendered deaf and blind at 19 months by scarlet fever, she learned to read (in several languages) and even speak, eventually graduating with honors from Radcliffe College in 1904, where as a student she wrote The Story of My Life. That she accomplished all of this in an age when few women attended college and the disabled were often relegated to the background, spoken of only in hushed tones, is remarkable. But Keller's many other achievements are impressive by any standard: she authored 13 books, wrote countless articles, and devoted her life to social reform. An active and effective suffragist, pacifist, and socialist (the latter association earned her an FBI file), she lectured on behalf of disabled people everywhere. She also helped start several foundations that continue to improve the lives of the deaf and blind around the world.
As a young girl Keller was obstinate, prone to fits of violence, and seething with rage at her inability to express herself. But at the age of 7 this wild child was transformed when, at the urging of Alexander Graham Bell, Anne Sullivan became her teacher, an event she declares "the most important day I remember in all my life." (Sullivan herself had once been blind, but partially recovered her sight after a series of operations.) In a memorable passage, Keller writes of the day "Teacher" led her to a stream and repeatedly spelled out the letters w-a-t-e-r on one of her hands while pouring water over the other. This method proved a revelation: "That living world awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away." And, indeed, most of them were.
In her lovingly crafted and deeply perceptive autobiography, Keller's joyous spirit is most vividly expressed in her connection to nature:
Indeed, everything that could hum, or buzz, or sing, or bloom, had a part in my education.... Few know what joy it is to feel the roses pressing softly into the hand, or the beautiful motion of the lilies as they sway in the morning breeze. Sometimes I caught an insect in the flower I was plucking, and I felt the faint noise of a pair of wings rubbed together in a sudden terror....
The idea of feeling rather than hearing a sound, or of admiring a flower's motion rather than its color, evokes a strong visceral sensation in the reader, giving The Story of My Life a subtle power and beauty. Keller's celebration of discovery becomes our own. In the end, this blind and deaf woman succeeds in sharpening our eyes and ears to the beauty of the world. --Shawn Carkonen
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