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Helen Keller

Born

in Tuscumbia, Alabama, The United States

June 27, 1880

Died

June 01, 1968

Genre

Biographies & Memoirs, Nonfiction

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Blind and deaf since infancy, American memoirist and lecturer Helen Adams Keller learned to read, to write, and to speak from her teacher Anne Sullivan, graduated from Radcliffe in 1904, and lectured widely on behalf of sightless people; her books include Out of the Dark (1913).

Conditions bound not Keller. Scarlet fever rendered her deaf and blind at 19 months; she in several languages and as a student wrote The Story of My Life . In this age, few women then attended college, and people often relegated the disabled to the background and spoke of the disabled only in hushed tones, when she so remarkably accomplished. Nevertheless, alongside many other impressive achievements, Keller authored 13 books, wrote countless articles, and de Blind and deaf since infancy, American memoirist and lecturer Helen Adams Keller learned to read, to write, and to speak from her teacher Anne Sullivan, graduated from Radcliffe in 1904, and lectured widely on behalf of sightless people; her books include Out of the Dark (1913).

Conditions bound not Keller. Scarlet fever rendered her deaf and blind at 19 months; she in several languages and as a student wrote The Story of My Life . In this age, few women then attended college, and people often relegated the disabled to the background and spoke of the disabled only in hushed tones, when she so remarkably accomplished. Nevertheless, alongside many other impressive achievements, Keller 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 a file of Federal Bureau of Investigation), she lectured on behalf of disabled people everywhere. She also helped to start several foundations that continue to improve the lives of the deaf and blind around the world.

As a young girl, obstinate Keller, prone to fits of violence, seethed with rage at her inability to express herself. Nevertheless, at the urging of Alexander Graham Bell, Anne Sullivan, a teacher, transformed this wild child at the age of 7 years in an event that she declares "the most important day I remember in all my life." (After a series of operations, Sullivan, once blind, partially recovered her sight.) 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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Helen Keller’s books

Average rating: 4.06 · 161,299 ratings · 5,229 reviews · 277 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Story of My Life 4.07 avg rating — 152,151 ratings — published 1902 — 180 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	لو أبصرت ثلاثة أيام by Helen Keller, هيلين كيلر, عبد الهادي التازي (Translator) 3.79 avg rating — 4,390 ratings — published 1933 — 66 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The World I Live In by Helen Keller, Roger Shattuck (Introduction) 3.97 avg rating — 1,300 ratings — published 1904 — 173 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Miracle Worker: Selected Works of Helen Keller 4.18 avg rating — 525 ratings — published 2011	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Story of my life; with her letters (1887-1901) and a supplementary account of her education, including passages from the reports and letters of her teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan by Helen Keller, John Albert Macy 3.96 avg rating — 546 ratings — published 1902 — 62 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Optimism 3.96 avg rating — 418 ratings — published 1903 — 130 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Story of my Life (Term 1 & 2) Summary in English & Hindi for Class 10 3.64 avg rating — 338 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Light in my Darkness by Helen Keller, Dorothy Herrmann (Foreword), Ray Silverman (Editor) 4.10 avg rating — 300 ratings — published 1994 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Teacher: Anne Sullivan Macy 4.17 avg rating — 218 ratings — published 1954 — 21 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The World I Live In and Optimism: A Collection of Essays 4.14 avg rating — 200 ratings — published 2010 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Helen Keller…

Quotes by Helen Keller (?)

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”
― Helen Keller

22824 likes

“I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.”
― Helen Keller

13324 likes

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart”
― Helen Keller

tags: by-anne-sullivan, emotions, feelings

5558 likes

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Polls

What shall we read in May, 2025? Books published in or before 1990.

God's Little Acre, by Erskine Caldwell

10 votes 25.0%

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain

9 votes 22.5%

Crimes of the Heart, by Beth Henley

7 votes 17.5%

The Education of Little Tree, by Forrest Carter

7 votes 17.5%

The Story of My Life, by Helen Keller

4 votes 10.0%

The Grandissimes: A Story of Creole Life, by George Washington Cable

3 votes 7.5%

40 total votes

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Helen Keller’s Followers (1,864)

Helen Keller

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Combine Editions
Helen Keller’s books