The Invention of Miracles: Language, Power, and Alexander Graham Bell's Quest to End Deafness

by Katie Booth

Finalist for the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography
Finalist for the Mark Lynton History Prize

“Meticulously researched, crackling with insights, and rich in novelistic detail” (Steve Silberman), this “provocative, sensitive, beautifully written biography” (Sylvia Nasar) tells the true—and troubling—story of Alexander Graham Bell’s quest to end deafness.

“Researched and written through the Deaf perspective, this marvelously engaging history will have us rethinking the invention of the telephone.” —Jaipreet Virdi, PhD, author of Hearing Deafness Cures in History

We think of Alexander Graham Bell as the inventor of the telephone, but that’s not how he saw his own career. As the son of a deaf woman and, later, husband to another, his goal in life from adolescence was to teach deaf students to speak. Even his tinkering sprang from his teaching work; the telephone had its origins as a speech reading machine.

The Invention of Miracles takes a “stirring” (The New York Times Book Review), “provocative” (The Boston Globe), “scrupulously researched” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) new look at an American icon, revealing the astonishing true genesis of the telephone and its connection to another, far more disturbing legacy of Bell’ his efforts to suppress American Sign Language. Weaving together a dazzling tale of innovation with a moving love story, the book offers a heartbreaking account of how a champion can become an adversary and an enthralling depiction of the deaf community’s fight to reclaim a once-forbidden language.

Katie Booth has been researching this story for more than fifteen years, poring over Bell’s papers, Library of Congress archives, and the records of deaf schools around America. But she’s also lived with this story for her entire life. Witnessing the damaging impact of Bell’s legacy on her family would set her on a path that overturned everything she thought she knew about language, power, deafness, and the telephone.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Disability, Science, Language, Audiobook

Audible Audio

First published April 8, 2021

Reviews

[Erin Entrada Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a well-written, comprehensive biography. Booth presents Bell as neither completely villainous nor heroic, but as a determined and meticulous man with many faults, including flawed logic and disturbing views, both of which had long-term consequences for those in the deaf community, including Booth’s family.

My only complaint is that I wish the volume included supplemental images—photos, scans of letters, an example of Visible Speech. So much time was spent on Visible Speech that I was surprised and confused as to why images weren’t included in the book to give readers some context.

Still, it was a compelling read.

[Jasmine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though the book itself was only so-so, the topic was quite interesting, which is why I finished the book. It's shocking (although I suppose not surprising, given the atrocities committed against various groups of people throughout history) that deaf people were treated so terribly, that they were encouraged not to marry, forcibly sterilized, and worst of all, denied language, and thus denied an education, a way to communicate, and the ability to form complex thoughts.

Despite the fascinating subject matter, I wouldn't recommend this book, and recommend you look for other books on deaf culture and language development in the deaf. I think I am going to re-read Oliver Sacks' Seeing Voices.

[Emily W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This is probably the best biography I have ever read.
I never knew that Alexander Graham Bell was so involved in the deaf community, nor did I know about the detrimental impact he had on deaf language and culture. This is a comprehensive story of his life, inventions, and work to promote oralism (learning to speak and lipread) amongst the deaf community.
This book confirmed to me that I want to spend more time studying NZSL, deaf culture and deaf history.
Cannot recommend enough.

[Michael D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Katie Booth has thoroughly researched and brilliantly written a new biography of Alexander Graham Bell and his effect on deaf education and the deaf community. Her writing is both historical and personal, direct and nuanced. It is a must read!

[James G · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book jacket of The Invention of Miracles; Language, Power, and Alexander Graham Bell’s Quest to End Deafness introduces the prospective reader to “an astonishingly revisionist biography.” This book does not come close to being an honest biography of a genius inventor, but serves as a deceptive diatribe based on rumors and the author’s opinions. Ms. Booth’s research uses incomplete ideas and lopsided views which exclude anything that is contradictory to her plan to; “burn the legacy of Alexander Graham Bell to the ground.” The title of this book is absurd; no one “invents miracles.” They exist in the eyes of believers.

The prologue sets the tone by describing unfortunate outcomes for Ms. Booth’s family and friends who are deaf. The author chooses to interview a handful of unhappy deaf adults and bases her opinions on these interviews completely ignoring any deaf adult who has had a different experience. Ms. Booth introduces common misconceptions spread by Deaf Culture advocates about Alexander Graham Bell (AGBell). AGBell never advocated for interference in marriage among the deaf, never wanted to eradicate deaf people, and never recommended sterilization or any kind of genetic interference in humans. Despite AGBell’s statements to the contrary, the Deaf Community continues to believe these myths that were propagated over a hundred years ago. Consult the FAQs at http://www.belllegacy.org/myths--rumo... for more correct information. Ms. Booth further insists that AGBell is “personally responsible” for the actions of others in their educational responsibilities. This seems to make as much sense as blaming the Wright Brothers for the 9/11 attacks. When the author attempts to be a biographer, she chooses to highlight out of context remarks from the Bell’s personal correspondence to implicate his wife, Mabel, as sad and indifferent and their relationship pathetic. Look to Dr. Charlotte Gray’s biography; Reluctant Genius The Passionate Life and Inventive Mind of Alexander Graham Bell for a true description of an inspirational harmonious partnership.

Ms. Booth considers Bell a “thief” even though history has proven after numerous legal assaults on his telephone patent that he was the sole inventor. Bell created the only actual phone that carried voice at that time. If the author actually tried to write this book as a biography, she should have included the many things he did for the benefit of all humanity. Look to Dr. Robert V. Bruce’s distinguished biography; Bell and the Conquest of Solitude for a scholarly review of AGBell’s many contributions.

These include;

· The audiometer to measure sound, (using decibels)

· Flat disc recording process and earliest recorded speech

· Wireless telephone communication

· Improvements in manned flight including the 1908 Scientific American Prize for Aviation and the first flight in the British Empire in 1909

· Preliminary X-ray device

· Hydrofoil boats and the world speed record in 1917

· Vacuum Jacket (ventilator) Think about how many lives have been saved during the COVID Pandemic alone with this ingenious device. AGBell created it after his son died in respiratory distress.

Instead Ms. Booth mistakenly tries to elevate Adolf Hitler by bringing his evil legacy into her book. Comparing AGBell to Hitler is cruel and shameful. There is no evidence that connects AGbell to Hitler’s atrocious deeds. AGBell died long before the events of World War II.

The reader is left with her attack on the current educational choices for parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing today. Current informed choice can provide outstanding outcomes for children who are deaf or hard of hearing.

With early identification, early intervention, and modern technology children who are deaf or hard of hearing can develop listening and spoken language. 95% of children born deaf or hard of hearing have parents and families that have normal hearing and use spoken language. These skills can be developed early in life when the brain in naturally wired to do this efficiently. Ms. Booth ignores the research that shows that we hear with our brains. Thousands of people who are deaf or hard of hearing use hearing aids or cochlear implants to listen and talk without the need for sign language or sign interpreters. American Sign Language (ASL) can be a choice, adopted at any age, after spoken language has been established. Language deprivation need not be a problem for either language. Just as AGBell was not anti-sign, professionals today teaching Listening and Spoken Language are not anti-ASL, but rather pro-spoken language. Ms. Booth unfairly evaluates past events and documents throughout this book in light of today’s reasoning. This is a recipe for misinterpreting events of the past relative to the opportunities and technology of today. Ms. Booth’s insistent disparaging treatment of AGBell serves no apparent purpose other than to justify her own personal prejudice. This book deserves to expire on the fiction shelf.

Jim and Lea Watson

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very fascinating. If you're interested in a deeply researched, well-written history of Alexander Graham Bell which focuses not on his contributions to the creation of the telephone (though that IS included) but which instead puts more attention on his misguided works to push "oralism" over the use of ASL or any sign language (or even a combination of the two) in the instruction of the deaf/Deaf; this is going to be a great read for you. The story-telling method brings Alex and his deaf wife, Mabel, to life as real people with real hopes/dreams; and also (in the case of Alex) real ambitions to "cure" deafness by advocating for the deaf/Deaf to assimilate into the hearing world as closely as possible; to hide or minimize any perceived differences.

Again and again the author's research showed how Mr. Bell in one breath donated to fund multiple schools for the education of the deaf/Deaf or even provided funds to individual deaf/Deaf students to get educated; yet in the next breath would suggest that the deaf/Deaf be encouraged not to marry within the deaf/Deaf community as the rate of possible genetically deaf/Deaf children from these unions was higher than if they married among the hearing community. This led to (or rather; helped to famously fan the flames of) a dramatic and devastating history of eugenics regarding the deaf/Deaf in the US and Internationally.

In short, he worked tirelessly throughout much of his life on finding ways to give the deaf/Deaf ways to blend into the hearing world by means of delaying education until students could master oral sounds (how the mouth moved to make each sound so that students could create them so as to be perceived as "hearing" in how natural their speech seemed; but also so that students could read lips - anything/everything to minimize or eliminate the use of signed language). All of this came, as the author details, at the expense of the full acquisition of language of any kind for deaf/Deaf students who, spending their entire crucial formative education years forced to learn sounds so as to mimic the hearing, lost the window of childhood language learning acquisition. That is; because the focus was so narrowly on sounds, rather than combining sounds with signs or fully using signs to provide the students with language as well as sounds; most students ended up failing not only to master the sounds but also ended up unable to grasp full communication at all as that education was denied to them in favor of hoping they could "sound as though they are hearing".

Highly recommend.

[Mary D · Rating 5 out of 5]

A surprising and incredible story of Alexander Graham Bell and the hostility he drew from the deaf community.

Bell who is the well-known inventor of the telephone was actually primarily devoted to his first love, the teaching of deaf and mute people to speak. Unfortunately, early focus on speaking comes at a cost and that is the central argument of this book.

Katie Booth's grandparents were both deaf and her research of their life experience has brought us this incredible story of Bell and the fight against ASL (American Sign Language). We learn about Bell's personal life as the son of a deaf mother and a husband of a deaf wife as well as his professional life as an inventor. Booth's writing about deaf culture is compelling, eye opening and at times heartbreaking.

I listened to the audiobook on this, and it was well done.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insightful, rigorously researched, revealing, multi-dimensional biography of the complicated inventor who, like so many of us, had his share of troubling flaws.

[Angie Valentino · Rating 4 out of 5]

never trust famous white men from history

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting book about deafness and a man that one might incorrectly think they know a lot about.

Alexander Graham Bell or Alec was born in Scotland. His father developed a version of phonetic writing that was so precise that a person could make a nonsense noise, another person trained in the written language could write it down, and a third trained person could reproduce the noise exactly. Alec's brothers die and when he becomes ill, the family moves to Canada in hopes that the better weather (!!) will help him recover. Alec has a passion for teaching oral speech to the deaf to enable them to function within the hearing world. He begins working as a teacher of the deaf but he has a mind that won't stop and he begins inventing improvements to the telegraph (the aim is to allow multiple messages to be transmitted simultaneously) at the behest of the father of one of his students, who is an early investor. On the way to this invention, Bell invents the telephone with the aid of Thomas Watson. He initially has a difficult time convincing his investor that this would be a worthwhile investment, and in general, people have a difficult time conceptualizing its utility. In a bit of chicanery, Bell files a patent for the telephone a little after an inventor from Highland Park, Illinois files one, but Bell's connections let him see the other patent, and he is able to use that information both to improve his invention and to differentiate it so the patent is secured.

In the meantime, Bell has married one of his former students, Mabel, who was post-lingually deafened and a good oral speaker. He makes a fortune from his invention and needs to spend a long time in court defending his patents against others who for the most part have valid cases. Bell always longs to return to his passion of deaf education, and this is where the story becomes most interesting.

At that time, Bell's idea of teaching deaf children to speak orally was radical. He was a fervent believer that the deaf culture was inferior and needed to be stamped out. He believed that his methods could teach any deaf person to speak orally and taught Helen Keller who he paraded as one of his star pupils. On the other side of the controversy was Thomas Galludet who espoused the use of sign language as he believed that allowing deaf persons a means of communication should be the ultimate goal. Bell believed that if deaf people learned sign language, they would marry other deaf people and have deaf children and perpetuate the handicap. Of course, deaf people did not see them as handicapped, and they resented Bell for imposing a different culture on them.

As a result of Bell's ideas, deafness was tied up in the eugenics movement and many countries that had involuntary sterilization of undesirables included persons with deafness. Another consequence was that many deaf persons (because they were denied use of sign language and oral language took them so long to acquire) were deprived of all language during the critical periods of acquisition and thus were language deprived throughout their lives.

The author's grandparents were deaf, and the author begins and ends the book with the story of her grandparents' lives and the role that their radically different education played in each of them. A really interesting read - possibly because I am a speech pathologist but I think almost anyone would enjoy learning more about this complicated man.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting Account of Alexander Graham Bell and His Support for Oralism

This was an excellent account of Alexander Graham Bell and his pursuit of Oralism which is part of controversy to this day. Alec, as he is called, is dedicated to his development of the telephone (talking machine) and with experience in the deaf community, to the pursuit of getting the deaf to learn to talk and read lips. He discouraged sign language. While the well to do sent their children to boarding schools, the poor usually didn’t get educated. Alec driven by popular and common social Darwinist theories became afraid of deaf people marrying deaf people because it could spread deafness. Alec actually feared that someday more deaf people would exist than hearing. He married a woman who became deaf and taught her Oralism. He promoted it for years until most deaf schools taught Oralism and discouraged or banned signing. The author discusses this attitude harmed a large number of deaf people.

[Peter Adamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hardly as controversial as I was expecting, but still a great history on the oralism vs. manualism schools of thought regarding language acquisition for those who are potential members of Deaf culture. I am an audiologist and used to work dispensing hearing aids to the Deaf so this book was up my vocational alley— but not in a “work inservice for CEU” way at all.

[Jenelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written biography that weaves together one powerful and well-know man’s influence on Deaf culture.

A must read. A great example for research and writing that helps us understand the complexity of individuals and how one’s legacy is never a clear as history books would like us to believe.

[Alok Kumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very very interesting topic.

A comprehensive account of AG Bell and his endeavour to teach the deaf how to speak.

In his misguided passion he became the villain of the entire deaf & mute community by robbing them of the sign language education.

The pursuit had a lot of inventions, emotions, drama and realisations along the way.

Would have definitely liked to see a few images of the Visible Speech mentioned in the Book. It would have given a bit more context.

[Jennifer Zaranis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Katie Booth did an excellent job in sharing the step by step timeline of how peoples hopelessness transformed into creating a language for the deaf community to what it is today. I really learned a lot from this book as well. Very informative and a great read over all!

[Stephan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting how one’s personal quest of helping the deaf set him on the path of discovering the telephone.

And on his quest, his overarching sympathy (understanding from his perspective) towards the deaf and his stubborn approach of thinking his method of education is right led to the detriment of communication for the deaf.

He became one of the most hated person amongst the deaf community despite his contribution in time, money and effort.

When one’s belief, neglecting empathy (putting oneself in other shoes) of the deaf could have strayed what was essentially necessary to the deaf in their formative years of communicating through ASL(sign language). He advocated oralism amongst the deaf, stating that if his wife, a deaf or Helen Keller, a blind and deaf could lip read and orate, all should be able to. And by abolishing ASL, it will force the deaf to be better at oralism and lip-reading. In turn, this will better integrate the deaf into society.

This set back the learning for the deaf community and almost led to the destruction of ASL. And later studies found that the mind of an individual with ASL as a way of learning and communicating is no different from one that is of normal faculties of hearing and speaking. If this is taken away and without proper language, it will hinder the early years of development and learning.

A good reflection on our personal beliefs and self-review on our thoughts on good things for others is really for the betterment of others and oneself. A question I have learnt from this book is to review my actions and thoughts constantly. Also, this provides a better awareness, like a new lens to look through the efforts of others and their belief.

[Gloria Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book about the life of Alexander Graham Bell's life and legacy. He was the son of a deaf woman and later the husband of another deaf woman. He was a brilliant inventor who invented the telephone, though not as simply as one might suppose. He spent years defending his patent on the telephone, but eventually prevailed.

But his main interest and focus of his life was the teaching of deaf people. Here his legacy is not so simple and straight forward because he believed that spoken language was the only way to go. He was strongly opposed to the use of American Sign Language and set the Deaf Community back significantly by this insistence. In addition, he was interested in eugenics and gave his support to the movement that ended up sterilizing thousands of deaf people over the world.

The love between Alexander Graham Bell and his wife Mable was intense and carried them through the years. But she had to give up her own knowledge of how she learned and functioned until late in her life so that she could fit in with Alec's view of the best way the deaf could learn and communicate.

This is a very important book and I recommend it.

[Juli Aistars · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful!

For someone with an ongoing interest in ASL and the life and contributions of Alexander Graham Bell, this book gave me many of my answers. Well, written and very fair to AGB, both the good and the bad. After reading Forbidden Sign, I didn’t like this man very much. Thanks to Katie, I understand that AGB is only human and did what he thought was right. He was not a bad man who wanted to harm the Deaf. In fact, I believe that in his heart all he wanted to do is help the Deaf. In the end, he was misguided and did not listen to the most important people, the Deaf, or even to his own experiments regarding oralism. I am now inclined not to hold that against him. Nevertheless, his legacy includes a deep harm to the Deaf that continues today.

[Anna Crenshaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is absolutely fantastic. As a hearing person, I have been involved in the Deaf World and Culture for about 20 years now. This book so clearly defines the hardships, language deprivation, and discrimination that have been suffered by the Deaf community for hundreds of years. I wish I could share this book with everyone and anyone! Our Deaf community doesn't need to be "fixed". It needs to be given the strength and opportunity to flourish. I am so glad that I read this book.

[Maggie Mattmiller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was a good reminder of some things I already knew, and I also learned a lot I didn't know. I hope this one has a far reach to a variety of audiences, and not just those who have a specific (already existing) interest in the Deaf community. Highly recommend. I couldn't put it down. Great book for my 100th of the year!

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned so much in this book about Bell, Helen Keller and the problems that face the deaf community concerning education, marriage and more. I had no idea that In 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court decided, by a vote of 8 to 1, to uphold a state's right to forcibly sterilize a person considered unfit to procreate which they stated included those who were deaf. Sad!

[Lynn Domina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely interesting book about Bell's interest in deaf education, misguided as it was. This book has received some criticism for its appraisal of Bell, but I found it exceptionally even-handed. It does a very good job of discussing Bell's life within its cultural context, and the writing itself is very engaging.

[Daniel Farabaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was in interesting read although the author had a bit too much of an agenda which clouded some of the history that they were trying to address.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED

[Louis Prontnicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful. The ideas she brings out are applicable to other cultural situations.

[Amie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating history of both the time and the man. One of the better biographies I have read in a long time.

[Jasmin Barone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adore this book. Such great history that I never knew existed

[Emerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a good read and I learned a lot. But what I think of this book is less important than what the Deaf community thinks of this book, so I'm elevating a review by a Deaf person here instead: https://wordgathering.com/vol15/issue...

"Booth has made a significant contribution by uncovering how one man’s careless ambitions can traumatize a culture, a community of people, and their families for years to come. Additionally, she mentions the significant damage language deprivation, a result of early oralism, has on an individual’s cognitive development, social development, educational achievement, quality of life, and overall mental health. Booth saw evidence of this in her Deaf grandfather’s life. I appreciate particularly the contradictions she highlights in Bell’s life. More than once, she suggests that AG Bell “never would have intended” that oralism would lead to internalized oppression, mistreatment, and an abusive form of education experienced by Deaf people. What is clear is that he was a master of microaggressions. However unintentional, his views were influential. He believed he could be a “miracle worker.” When Deaf folks confronted him during his lifetime, he either didn’t bother to investigate these challenges or ignored them. In his own arrogant mind, he knew better. Behind his charm was the mask of benevolence.3 When oralism became speech training pursued at the expense of educating the mind, Bell privately disagreed, but said nothing. The first NAD President, Robert P. MacGregor explained this approach when he said, “They will try to teach him (the Deaf child) to say ‘bread,’ but the child may die of starvation before he learns” (70)...

Mabel Bell once wrote to AG Bell, “I want you to succeed in your experiments, but not to lose all human interest in the process. Your deaf mute business is hardly human to you” (291). Ultimately, even his Deaf wife—as Booth explains—accused Bell of being too much in love with his ideas rather than the Deaf people impacted by these ideas. Despite his desire for recognition and success, Bell’s real achievement was his greatest fear—failure. And Bell’s greatest failure was as a “teacher of deaf-mutes”—not because he couldn’t perform the “miracle” of teaching Deaf folks to speak, but because he never even tried to listen to what Deaf people had to say. By dehumanizing us in this way, treating us as ideas to be experimented with, he set in motion the trauma and injustice we have had to live with, ever since. With The Invention of Miracles, Katie Booth puts Alexander Graham Bell back in the public eye, challenging readers to examine not only his legacy, but also their own attitudes toward Deaf and DeafBlind people."

[John R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw the author at an event a few weeks ago. As a hearing person who was only familiar with the conventional legend of Alexander Graham Bell — and the sort of ambiguous subtitle of the book — I assumed this was going to simply be a biography on the invention of the telephone and how it somehow had to do with research into assisting the deaf. The book, instead, is a deep-dive into the storied and in many ways hard to believe interconnectedness that has built so much of this country. Especially when it comes to the placement and prejudice against the disabled.

I had no idea the telephone was sort of an accidental discovery developed from simply trying to vary the amount of messages the telegraph could carry. No idea Bell was involved in the creation of “National Geographic.” And I hadn’t realized he had had anything to do with bringing Helen Keller the fame we associate her with. All of this was surprising in how it actually was in support of his desire to, as the book puts it, cure deafness. How he was inspired by his own father’s creation of a “visible alphabet”, his mother and wife who were both deaf (the wife originally being a student of his), and the incredibly misaligned belief (that is apparently still held by many to this day) that learning ASL is negative for the deaf community.

The book speaks to these biases and prejudices, and I think what it shows (as not as big of a surprise I feel like we all would consider) is just how long we have been hurting anyone who didn’t fit the norm of conventional culture/ability. I understand the choice the author makes in focusing the book mostly on Bell, and it may simply be that I prefer memoir and creative nonfiction than straight-up biography, but I wish she’d fit more of her story interspersed with Bell’s. I think a lot of the information sequestered in the introduction and afterword (which I am sure many people skip) would’ve felt right at home in-between the stories of the rest of the history of the deaf community in the United States. I also could have done with a little less of the technical development of the telephone, which may be from my own lack of understanding of how it all works, as much of it just turned into gobbedlygook that the author also didn’t really seem to understand, so it didn’t feel additive like so much of the other prose. (For instance, I have very little experience with ASL or teaching language, but I could feel the author’s familiarity and understanding of how that works.)

It’s an eye-opening and endlessly fascinating story about a “hero” who was much more a villain — and ain’t that always the way!

[Gustavo Fernandez · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book presents a lot of research and documentation about AGBell and his work. Yet the author essentially writes a screed against AGBell related to his work on deafness. Her jaundiced views of AGBell, even accusing him of systemic ethnocide, is not even supported by much of the evidence she presents, much less by many other reputable biographies that had no axe to grind.

Ms. Booth's personal experiences and views stain the entire perspective on her conclusions that AGBell was a force that damaged deaf people. AGBell never advocated legislation to limit marriages among deaf people but relied on statistics to show a greater probability of deafness in descendants of deaf people. Yet he supported the right of deaf people to intermarry as both himself and his father married deaf women. He distanced himself from the society advocating for eugenics. Citing Nazi Germany genocides of infirm folks as an indirect consequence of AGBell if nauseating.

The book is well written but is not even a pretense of a biography. You must go to other sources for facts about AGBell's formative years, educational experience, and certainly this is not the source to find the plethora of altruistic and philanthropic deeds that AGBell carried out during his lifetime.

Ms. Booth does honor the clear and abounding love AGBell and his wife Mabel had for each other while noting that much of AGBell attention was focused on his work on vocalization of the deaf and away from his wife. That was true and it would be a challenge to find any other genius who was not obsessed with their work. Edison and Einstein relationships with their second wives have been documented as mostly transactional. Never so for AGBell.

This is not to deny the valid point about difficulty in achieving proper vocalization by congenitally deaf people in particular. But AGBell was not opposed to using combination of ASL with vocalization efforts.

This is not to condemn Ms. Booth's views which can be understood in her experience and context with deafness in her family and her association with vigorous proponents of ASL as the main way to bring joy to deaf people. But in a way those experiences make her peculiarly unqualified to present what should have been a balanced and thorough biography of a man who made major contributions to technology and to deaf people. Perhaps she should try with another subject where she can maintain a higher degree of objectivity.