The Deaf History Reader

by John Vickrey Van Cleve (Editor)

The Deaf History Reader presents nine masterful chapters that bring together a remarkably vivid depiction of the varied Deaf experience in America. This collection features the finest scholarship from a noteworthy group of historians, including Reginald Boyd, Barry A. Crouch, Mary French, Brian H. Greenwald, Harlan Lane, Harry G. Lang, Kent R. Olney, Richard Pillard, Jill Hendricks Porco, Michael Reis, and volume editor John Vickrey Van Cleve.

The incisive articles collected here include an exploration of the genesis of the Deaf community and early evidence of the use of sign language; a comparison of a failed, oralist school for deaf students in Virginia to the success of the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut; the development of Deaf consciousness among people who carried a dominant gene for deafness; a biographical sketch of Mary Ann Walworth Booth, an accomplished deaf woman who lived on the Western frontier; an account of Deaf agency in the Indiana Institution and the Evansville Day School; the early antecedents of mainstreaming deaf children despite the objections of their parents; a profile of Alexander Graham Bell that contrasts his support of eugenics to his defense of Deaf rights; the conflicting actions of supervisors of the Pennsylvania Society for the Advancement of the Deaf; and finally, the critical role played by deaf people in the Chicago Mission for the Deaf’s success in maintaining the Deaf community for more than five decades. The remarkably rich range of topics treated in The Deaf History Reader assure its future status as a standard resource for all Deaf scholars and students.

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2007

Reviews

[Kitrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for a paper I am writing on Deaf Culture. I found the book to be extremely interesting. While many of the chapters did not relate directly to my paper, it was extremely difficult to tear myself away from reading them. As a hearing person, it exposed me to some topics I had been previously unfamiliar with.

The authors presented the history in a well thought out, interesting manner which, while it was clear they were very passionate about the presented topics, each managed to fairly present the most accurate history available. This is particularly evident in the chapter on Alexander Graham Bell. While something of a villain in Deaf culture history, due to his support of oralism and view on eugenics, the reader comes away with the profound sense that even villains may be driven by compassion and the best of intentions.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic text