After the Miracle: The Political Crusades of Helen Keller

by Max Wallace

In this powerful new history, New York Times bestselling author Max Wallace draws on groundbreaking research to reframe Helen Keller’s journey after the miracle at the water pump, vividly bringing to light her rarely discussed, lifelong fight for social justice across gender, class, race, and ability.  

Raised in Alabama, she sent shockwaves through the South when she launched a public broadside against Jim Crow and donated to the NAACP. She used her fame to oppose American intervention in WWI. She spoke out against Hitler the month he took power in 1933 and embraced the anti-fascist cause during the Spanish Civil War. She was one of the first public figures to alert the world to the evils of Apartheid, raising money to defend Nelson Mandela when he faced the death penalty for High Treason, and she lambasted Joseph McCarthy at the height of the Cold War, even as her contemporaries shied away from his notorious witch hunt. But who was this revolutionary figure?

She was Helen Keller.

From books to movies to Barbie dolls, most mainstream portrayals of Keller focus heavily on her struggles as a deafblind child—portraying her Teacher, Annie Sullivan, as a miracle worker. This narrative—which has often made Keller a secondary character in her own story—has resulted in few people knowing that her greatest accomplishment was not learning to speak, but what she did with her voice when she found it.

After the Miracle is a much-needed corrective to this antiquated narrative. In this first major biography of Keller in decades, Max Wallace reveals that the lionization of Sullivan at the expense of her famous pupil was no accident, and calls attention to Keller’s efforts as a card-carrying socialist, fierce anti-racist, and progressive disability advocate. Despite being raised in an era when eugenics and discrimination were commonplace, Keller consistently challenged the media for its ableist coverage and was one of the first activists to highlight the links between disability and capitalism, even as she struggled against the expectations and prejudices of those closest to her.

Peeling back the curtain that obscured Keller’s political crusades in favor of her “inspirational” childhood, After the Miracle chronicles the complete legacy of one of the 20th century’s most extraordinary figures.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Politics, Biography Memoir, Feminism, Historical

416 pages, Hardcover

Published April 11, 2023

About the author

MAX WALLACE is a writer and journalist. His book The American Axis, about the Nazi affiliations of Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh, was endorsed by two-time Pulitzer-winner Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Wallace co-authored the New York Timesbestseller Love & Death, about the final days of Kurt Cobain. Earlier, he wrote Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight: Cassius Clay vs. the United States of America. Ali himself wrote the foreword. From 1996-2000, Wallace worked for Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation documenting the video testimonies of Holocaust survivors. As a journalist, Wallace has contributed to the Sunday New York Times as a guest columnist as well as the BBC. He has appeared three times on NBC's Today, as well as on Dateline NBC, Anderson Cooper 360°, CBS This Morning, and Good Morning America, plus numerous appearances on CSPAN's Book TV.

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

"The Socialist Party is the party of the working class, regardless of color, the whole working class of the whole world."

Helen Keller is the most famous blind and deaf person in history. We all probably read about her or watched the movie The Miracle Worker in elementary school. Her teacher Annie Sullivan took an out of control 6 year old Helen and taught her how to communicate. She was a first of her kind if you don't mention Laura Bridgman who was a deaf and blind child who along with her teacher took the world by storm 50 years before Helen Keller.

In the nearly 60 years since Helen Keller died the American Foundation for the Blind who are in charge of her estate have worked hard to ensure that any traces of Helen's militant activism have been whitewashed into only being a generic supporter of social causes.

Helen Keller is described in this book as being a radical Socialist. Socialism isn't radical, in fact it's the rational solution to capitalism. Helen would be hated today if she was alive. She supported women's rights, workers rights, she was early in raising the alarm about Nazis, she spoke out against racism and Jim Crow...so much so she wasn't even welcome in her home state of Alabama. She supported toppling apartheid South African in the 1950s.

She didn't get everything right of course, despite her own disabilities she supported for a time eugenics. She was also a supporter of Israel and she felt no sympathy for "the Arabs"(the Palestinians). Although I think she'd be on the right side of things today. Those are horrible takes.

"Helen is an unconquerable liberal in her ideas. She inclines to take the side of the people in all matters which they make their concern."

"Socialism lights up certain once hopeless evils in human affairs and shows the path by which escape is possible. "

Helen Keller was a far more interesting and cool person than history has painted her as. And her teacher Annie Sullivan was a far more cunning and selfish person than the "Miracle Worker" she's remember as. She destroyed Helen's one chance at love and possible marriage because she didn't want to give up control.

Helen was the first deafblind person to earn a university degree but she wasn't the last. Geraldine Lawhorn was the first African American deafblind person to graduate from college. Conchita Hernandez is a blind Latina activist. Haben Girma is the first deafblind person to earn a Harvard Law degree.

After The Miracle is great read. I flew through this book. Helen Keller wasn't perfect but she is an icon...a Leftist icon.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up watching The Miracle Worker on television. Anne Bancroft plays Annie Sullivan to Patty Duke’s Helen, blind and deaf since babyhood, an uncontrolled child who needs taming and civilizing. One day, Helen understands that Annie’s finger language is a communication. An excited Helen eagerly wants to understand the words for everything. Sullivan has worked a miracle. It is an affecting story. But it is also a story with all that implies.

I realized that I knew very little else about Keller–except that she had an Akita named Kamikaze, a gift received while in Japan. I didn’t know anything about her “political crusades.”

After the Miracle will disrupt many misconceptions about Keller.

She read five languages. She attended Radcliffe and received a B.A.–the first blind-deaf person to attend college. Raised in the segregated South, she spoke against racism in America and Apartheid in South Africa. Her sympathies were socialist, strongly anti-fascist. She championed the rights of the poor, the working class, women, and the blind and deaf. Helen was anti-capitalist, but accepted an annuity from Andrew Carnegie. Helen had wanted to marry, but her family sent the man packing; some who knew them thought she had a sexual relationship with Annie. She rejected her family’s Presbyterianism after reading Swendenborg, attracted to the social justice aspect of Jesus’ teachings.

The biography begins with Helen’s early life and development. It traces her political development as she responsed to the changing political scene, including the rise of Hitler, the Russian revolution, Joe McCarthy, and the American presidents.

Annie Sullivan had vision problems all her life. Helen called her Teacher, and gave her credit for all of her success. After Sullivan’s health failed, other caretakers stepped in. Helen was dependent on them to relate conversations through finger language, although Helen could also read lips with her hands.

The most complete biography of Helen is analyzed for bias, downplaying her political alliances. During Helen’s life and after her death, her radical view were dampened. Her work for the American Foundation for the Blind and other groups required an idealized Helen, not a radical socialist.

After the Miracle reveals Helen’s life-long fight for social justice. And it is interesting to see how iconic personages have their public image and heritage shaped by the desires and needs of those who capitalize on them.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this one but just could not get into it. I learned that Helen Keller and her teacher Annie Sullivan were not the first deaf/blind child and teacher to learn to communicate. There was another deaf/blind child named Laura Bridgman who learned to read braille and communicate with finger spelling - the exact same methods Sullivan used with Helen Keller. In fact, Annie Sullivan who also had severe vision problems lived at the same school as Laura Bridgman and had learned finger spelling to communicate with her. Outside of that interesting fact, I just couldn't get into this book. I thought it would be a fascinating look into Helen Keller's life After the Miracle when she could read and communicate, but it was very bogged down in a lot of details that didn't seem necessary to the story. I made it about 100 pages and just didn't want to keep going. Would not recommend.

[Brianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

After The Miracle will likely end up being among my favorite books of the year. Well-researched and insightful, the book is a joy to read. The author gives great context to Helen Keller's life and her place in the larger role of disability advocacy.

Like many people, I grew up with the "nice" and fairly infantalizing story of Helen Keller. After the Miracle is not that story. This book is focused on her as a full person: political, fierce, witty, intelligent, and deeply compassionate. Helen was an advocate for people from a wide variety of marginalized groups, most often Black Americans, oppressed workers and those living in poverty, and people with disabilities within these categories. What I didn't expect from this book were the controversies that surrounded her, including her ties to Communism and her horrifying stance on eugenics and repeated ableist language and opinions.

After the Miracle is a well-rounded biography that is both informative and riveting. If, like me, you only know the popular narrative around Helen Keller's life, I highly recommend seeking this out. I am so grateful to have read this and learned so much about the deep influence she had and the radical politics that shaped her life.

[Maggie Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely long in parts but so interesting. I knew very little beyond the childhood education, let alone that Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan remained close for 49 years living, working, and traveling together. In all my readings about Vaudeville, I never knew they traveled with the circuit for nearly 4 years nor how versed Helen was in current events and was so vocal of her stance throughout her life.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will readily admit that I knew very little about Helen Keller outside of her overcoming the adversity of being deaf and blind. I only knew the legacy that this book actively tries to complicate and it expands on a woman who accomplished much more than we remember.

The book opens up with Keller’s childhood and her teacher Annie Sullivan, which is generally the most familiar part of her life story. Already you see the ways in which people with disabilities are perceived, and this idea of placing them on a pedestal for “overcoming” their disability. This is an idea that persists today in ableist rhetoric where we’re always looking for the exceptional people with disabilities rather than accepting all and moving towards a more inclusive world.

Then the book transitions into a really amazing exploration of the politically active pursuits of Keller. Her disability and story offered her fame that gave her a platform, and sometimes a sort of amnesty during turbulent times, but beyond that her it starts to fall into the background of her life story. Helen Keller was a passionate social justice activist and devout socialist. She was a massive public figure and I was amazed learning all the ways in which she threw herself into the arena of public discourse.

Another aspect of this book is its discussion on the ways in which her legacy was manipulated, tainted, and ultimately erased to history. It’s fascinating to see how quick the world was to suppress her role as an activist to instead cherry-pick the story of her childhood, and how the was able to happen.

Overall this was a really excellent read! It offered a much broader history to a very complicated woman who was not perfect, but was definitely interesting.

[Carolyn Whitzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

When my daughter was young, she was mildly obsessed with Helen Keller. We read The Story of My Life together, we watched The Miracle Worker and cried buckets, then the one thing she wanted to see in Washington was her grave. But other than knowing she was a socialist, I didn’t know more about her.

So it was a pleasure to read this political biography by Max Wallace. Helen Keller knew everyone: Mark Twain, Eleanor Roosevelt, John Reed. She was a witty and incredibly well-read person, devouring Braille in French and German. And man, she was a socialist. Big fan of Lenin, although she recoiled from Stalin’s show trials. The only reason she avoided McCarthy was that Helen Keller was in her 70s by then and had 50 years of being considered a living saint. Her causes in general were just, and she was in many ways ahead of her time. Yes, she was a eugenicist but so was every socialist of the early 20th century, from George Bernard Shaw to Tommy Douglas. As was the case for the Soviet fangirling, she lived and learned.

Wallace does an excellent job of providing the political context of Helen’s activist life. He is less interested in her emotional life. Her relationship with her family gets short shrift. I suspect that Wallace doesn’t want to go over ground already covered in other biographies. However, readers might want an all in one biography.

[Christie Bane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about Helen Keller’s life as a political activist — everything that happened after the famous moment when Annie Sullivan helped Helen understand that things have names, and made it possible for her to communicate. From there, everyone knows that she went on to be a scholar, speaker, and much loved public figure. Of course, the truth is never as simple as that. She had some very controversial opinions regarding socialism and communism, and the AFB, her employer, was often involved in trying to… not silence her, exactly, but rein her in so as not to embarrass them. She ended up making some concessions to keep the peace, but then, who doesn’t have to do that once in a while? This is a good book that gives us quite a few different perspectives on someone who is still one of the best-known Americans ever.

[Alexis Stankewitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Thank you for Grand Central Publishing for sending me a finished copy of "After The Miricle" in exchange for an honest review*

This is a very interesting book. I'm not a huge non-fiction reader, with the exception to disability non-fiction. This was a very enlightening,well researching biography detailing ALL of Helen Keller's life, especially, as the title implies, after the famous water well "Miracle". I definitely recommend this to anyone who's interested in Disability History or anyone who thinks the know Helen Keller.

[Leslie Zemeckis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of information in this that I didn’t know about Helen Keller. She was a crusader -
Giving to the NAACP and protesting Jim Crow era policies in the South (where she was from). Whether it was facism or Apartheid she was a woman not only ahead of her time but unhamperes by her “handcicap” -

[Michelle Kidwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

After the Miracle
The Political Crusades of Helen Keller
by Max Wallace
Pub Date 11 Apr 2023 | Archive Date 11 May 2023
Grand Central Publishing
Biographies & Memoirs | History | Nonfiction (Adult)




Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley have provided me with a copy of After the Miracle for review:


The biography of Helen Keller always intrigues me and honestly it is her story that inspired me to pick up a pen and write my own stories. Therefore, it would be an understatement to say that I was excited to receive After the Miracle.


Raised in Alabama, she sent shockwaves through the South when she announced her opposition to Jim Crow and donated to the NAACP. During World War I, she used her fame to oppose American intervention. In 1933, she spoke out against Hitler's rise to power and supported the anti-fascist cause during the Spanish Civil War. She was one of the first public figures to alert the world to the evils of Apartheid, raising funds to defend Nelson Mandela when he faced the death penalty for High Treason, and she lambasted Joseph McCarthy at the height of the Cold War, while her contemporaries shied away from his notorious witch hunt. The question arises, who was this revolutionary figure?


She was Helen Keller.


In spite of all of this, six decades after her death, African American disability rights activist Anita Cameron stated this in an interview with Newsweekly.
"Helen Keller is not radical at all, just another despite disabilities privileged white person and yet another example of history telling the story of privileged white Americans."
As a result of her statement, Senator Ted Cruz and others immediately responded with backlash.




Most mainstream portrayals of Keller focus extensively on her struggles as a deafblind child, portraying her teacher, Annie Sullivan, as a miracle worker. As a result of this narrative-which often has made Keller a secondary character in her own story-few people are aware that her greatest achievement was not learning to speak, but what she did with her voice as soon as she did.



After the Miracle provides a much-needed correction to the antiquated narrative. In this first major biography of Keller in decades, Max Wallace reveals that the lionization of Sullivan at the expense of her famous pupil was no accident, and points out Keller’s contributions as a socialist, a fierce anti-racist, and a progressive disability advocate. While Keller was raised in an era of eugenics and discrimination, she consistently challenged the media's ableist coverage and was the first activist to emphasize the link between disability and capitalism, despite the expectations and prejudices of those closest to her.

As Keller's political crusades are revealed behind a curtain of inspiration from her childhood, After the Miracle finally reveals Keller's entire legacy, as one of the greatest figures of the 20th century.



I give After the Miracle five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

[Adam Carman · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you ask most people who Hellen Keller is, they can tell you. The deaf-blind little girl whose miraculous teacher rescued her from darkness. And for most that's the extent of what they know. A few might recognize that at a later point in her life she controversially called for eugenics in a single case involving a disabled child. But in general most people act like the only important event in her life was that portrayed in the show The Miracle Worker. In this book, Max Wallace seeks to shift the attention to her later life. This is not a hagiographic reimagining. The Keller in these pages is a deeply flawed individual. She did indeed endorse eugenics in one case. And she let her sympathy for Socialist theory blind her to the real damage many so-called Socialists like Lenin and Stalin were doing to their own people. But she was also a fiery defender of the downtrodden. She spoke out furiously against the mistreatment of African Americans, even alienating her own family to do so. Despite her early flirtation with eugenics, she later turned the tables and attacked the notion, even becoming one of very few public figures in the United States to call out Nazi Germany for its eugenics program and its crimes against the Jewish people. She was firmly on the side of workers against the people who held them hostage with low wages. She went toe to toe with Theodore Roosevelt and the war preparedness folks during the First World War, believing the US should stay out of it. In the aftermath of WWII, she became a fervent supporter of the nation of Israel, one of the most strident opponents of the witch hunter Joseph McCarthy and was willing to publicly attack the system of Apartheid and donated money to Nelson Mandela. Yet all this was lost to the American public. Her family and biographers, afraid of what her radical politics might do to her image, downplayed every stand she made, suggesting she was simply the tool of others, deluded by what other people said. Even in the stories of her own life, she plays second fiddle to Annie Sullivan (the actress who played Sullivan got Best Actress award while the young lady portraying Helen was only up for Best Supporting Actress). Wallace strips that possibility away, noting that Keller, who went on to master several languages and interact with many leading figures of her age, was more than capable of forming her own opinions. This volume is a necessary corrective to years of whitewashing Keller and reveals her not only as very human but also as a great American spirit, often ahead of her contemporaries. She may have been blind but she could see injustice and was willing to call it what it was.

[lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this was an intense read! I heard about this book on the Vulgar History podcast, and knew that I had to read it. (My library only has the LP version available, which may have contributed to the fact that it felt like a hugely dense piece of work.) It was a really well researched look at Helen Keller's life through the lens of her work as a Socialist, and activist for so-called Socialist causes. That was the hook that drew me in, but beyond activism she did for worker's rights and pacifism, there was also a lot of information about the ableist narrative that has shaped her legacy, and the controversies she was caught in. It was so interesting to read about Helen Keller speaking up about how people perceived her, and what she thought about it. I also liked how the book drew a strong contrast to the political views between Keller, and her famous teacher Annie Sullivan. They absolutely did not agree on a lot of things, yet they still managed to live together. What was also interesting to read was Keller's relationship to Nella Henney, and the way it fell apart toward the end of her life. The author presents this as though there was a lot of mysterious circumstances surrounding it, and I guess there was, but I found Henney's views on race to be pretty disgusting, and she clearly did not look out for Keller the way Sullivan did, so the fact that she didn't have access to Keller toward the end of her life makes sense to me. I guess I shouldn't have surprised that there was a lot of behind the scenes exploitation and silencing of Keller behind the scenes of her life, but I was.

I always a love a non-fiction book with a bibliography, and lots of notes about resources, but Max Wallace pointed out that Joseph Lash, who wrote Helen and Teacher with access to AFB's archives actually didn't cover everything about Keller, or put a certain view on aspects of life, possibly because he had a contract with AFB. He also probably didn't have access to the full Helen Keller archive. This was such an interesting consideration, and something I will keep in mind from now on, including with this very book!

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it overall as an audiobook, though often was just ok. The language is simple, so played at 2x speed. Book necessary for documentation but probably would hold more interest as a long form Atlantic article.

Fascinating life for the obvious reasons and part of the story most of us know, also fascinating for the specific span of American history she lived through, born in 1880 and died a few months after sending her condolences to Coretta Scott King. Helen met 16 presidents. I also enjoyed the beginning story of Laura Bridgeman, the deaf and blind woman that came before Helen Keller.

The author covered Helen’s lifelong strong socialist and communist (until they became dictators) politics, with the middle section such a long sequence of evidence it dragged, and I considered DNFing. Caught up in the McCarthy era craze, her saintly image and celebrity, along with ableist perspectives on how her opinions got formed, saved her from others’ fates.

Glad I stayed for the final third where the author brings home not just her life story but how her story gets told and through what lenses and agendas. A bit of historiography: the study of history and how history changes through new interpretations.

Fascinating how educated, well-read and global citizen she was and what a full white woman of privilege life she led, privilege she acknowledged. Fun to have so many celebrity friends make cameos such as Mark Twain. Also interesting how when the book takes in her full life as not a saccharine hagiography, she ironically becomes more impressive.

Could have been slightly stronger if the author shared their own background and agenda (at least on the audiobook), but doesn’t take away from the overall book. Glad to have read it on the whole.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most people, I first heard of Helen Keller when I was a kid. She became blind and deaf after an illness as a young child but learned how to speak and write with the help of her teacher, Annie Sullivan. That's all true. But the answer I'd heard about why she was so famous was just that, that she learned how to talk, when in reality many deafblind people have done the same. It was only when I read Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong that I learned anything about what Helen actually DID once she could speak and write. She was extremely intelligent and well-read, but her views have been whitewashed over the years. The truth is that she was a radical socialist who spent a lot of time arguing on behalf of the oppressed. She supported civil rights despite growing up in a very racist southern family. She spoke out against Nazis, South African apartheid, and McCarthyism. Not all of her views put her on the right side of history- although she seemed to have changed her views later in life, she came down on the side of eugenics in the Bollinger baby case, and she was pretty naive about Soviet Russia. She also, surprisingly, didn't spend much time advocating for the disabled. But overall, she was pretty fascinating and mostly pretty admirable for reasons that actually have nothing to do with her disabilities, and it's a shame that her story has been reduced to the "miracle worker" bit.

[ML Hart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is filled with contradictions. The author debunks the myths of Annie Sullivan as THE miracle worker, and Helen Keller is no saint, either.

[excerpt]

"After Annie lost her remaining vision, and she discovered that she had forgotten how to read braille, Helen spent hours by her side guiding Teacher's hands over the raised characters as she retaught her to read. A half century after Annie had introduced her to braille, the pupil had become the teacher."

On the other hand, Keller became not only an amazing student, overcoming the barrier of her deaf-blind condition to not only learn English, but also German, extend her education, and become a fierce activist for an array of political and social causes. She also managed, mostly, to evade those trying to take advantage of her financially, or use her as a poster child for political gain.

Are we tired yet? Yes, the writing is pedantic (I'm not questioning the validity) but in its coverage of political movements, governmental missteps, and cultural trends, it makes the book more of a historical resource than an enjoyable read.

The author has done extensive research into the personal and professional lives of Keller, Sullivan, the Keller family, a batch of those wanting to profit from Ms. Keller's celebrity status, along with dozens of historical figures in politics, education, and civil rights. Unfortunately, the author seems to have put every bit of that data into the book, at the expense of telling a story to hold the reader's attention. About halfway in, I started to skim.

My rating is higher for the historical value, and I recommend it for that.

[Mikey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helen Keller is a celebrated historical figure whose story tends to begin and end in 1887, when Anne Sullivan pumps water into Helen's deaf-blind, seven-year-old hands.

Her life "After the Miracle" however is obscure. The few sources are 20-60 years old; they vary from overpriced, academic texts to socialist propaganda (sold by actual Communists)!

Our perception of Helen is dubious. She's heralded as a beloved treasure, ironically, only as long she kept quiet. But Helen couldn't keep quiet on injustice.

Her early-life prolific writings on conquering disability assuaged her editors, educators and financiers from her underlying political passion.

Helen's real care was the abolishment of "Industrial Blindness and Social Deafness;" an intrinsic linkage of capitalism and the roots of disability.

Physical blindness arose in child factory workers, from on-the-job accidents due to poor industrial conditions. "Industrial blindness" were disabilities intentionally driven by worker exploitation and poverty exacerbating the cycle.

Social deafness included prudery that prevented discussion on the use of inexpensive eye-drops for preventable blindness from venereal disease. Helen typified it as a democracy that disenfranchises gender and race; one where lynching and child labor were tolerated.

The adult Helen Keller led a life of political passion and action.

The adult Helen Keller developed a far-reaching analysis tying disability politics to race, gender, and class did not die until 1968.

[Anniereads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t usually read biographies but I read a review of this book which led me to put a hold on it at my local library even thought it hadn’t been purchased or catalogued yet. I believe I am the first patron to read it.
It’s extremely enlightening and as a lover of history, the book takes you through so many eras. You discover why Helen is a 20th century icon and why so many see fascinated by her. She was brilliant and progressive in her views on social justice. She often had to retract or explain her thinking as she was exploited by ABF…the American Blind Foundation. She championed Bolshevism and Socialism as she “saw” capitalism as the scourge of society and the reason behind poverty and hence blindness. She tempered her views when she realized Stalin was a Communist Dictator, especially after his signing of the Non-Aggression Pact. She was a crusader for universal equality. She lived through 13 different presidents, meeting them all and writing to all of them when she was displeased by something on the domestic or international scene.
She was also believed in eugenics at one time but again changed her views when Hitler was euthanizing Jews.
A great read, although at times I needed to look back at who was who. Helen was associated with so many movers and shakers but to a Canadian they weren’t all well known.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

So fascinating to learn about Helen Keller's radical politics and adult life. This is a very fair, richly detailed account of someone who demonstrated remarkable capacity for change and growth by leading with compassion, heart, and discernment. The book also raises, repeatedly, interesting questions about ableism and paternalism in many of the very complicated relationships she maintained. Also related deeply (particularly in this moment) to Helen's articulation of her feeling that she had to self-censor in mixed company: "I don't feel free to talk about social questions obviously unwelcome in this atmosphere... I guess that's the experience of every crank, every heretic and every 'botherer of men.'"

Drawbacks: it's a touch long and repetitive and there were a couple of issues with editing that jumped out (it misnames one of her memoirs and the audiobook narrator seemed to have flubbed/mispronounced some words). There's also one passing characterization of Israel as merely a "boogeyman" of the left that feels out of place, given its discussion earlier about apartheid South Africa - particularly that Afrikaans people who were ostensibly oppressed by the British later became oppressors of the people whose land they occupied - but the book seems to recover some self-awareness later on.

[Jennifer Schultz · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 3rd grade social studies fair project was on Helen Keller, so I've been interested in her fascinating life for some time.

If you're an avid reader of Helen Keller biographies, some of the early chapters might not contain much new information. It's actually been a while since I've read a Keller biography (it's been a while since one's been published for adults), so although some parts were familiar, Wallace's writing captivated my attention.

The bulk of the narrative is focused on Keller's political and social views/activism, primarily her socialist views. Although this was not new to me, I had never read anything that explored this aspect of her life that closely. Wallace does not skimp over the fact that she was an early supporter of the eugenics movement, and is quite evenhanded in his descriptions of her beliefs.

He also provides some corrections to earlier Keller biographies, particularly Lash's iconic biography. He also delves into her legacy and how it continues to be controversial in disability communities.


Many thanks to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would guess that nearly everyone has heard of Helen Keller. Like me, they know of her relationship with Annie Sullivan, and how she learned to communicate. But, like me, they probably know very little about her life "after the miracle."

Max Wallace wrote a strong book filled with insights into the woman. It isn't about a blind and deaf girl. It is about a woman who speaks out against racism, and champions the rights of the poor and working classes, women, and those living with disabilities. She was a vocal activist, a socialist, and an anti-capitalist. Educated and intelligent, she read in five languages. Helen was affected by the changes in the world, including the rise of Hitler, and the Red Scare in America. She found herself frustrated and angered by the political climate in the world.

I found the book inspirational and insightful, filled with details of Helen's life, activism and personality.

Thank you @grandcentralpublishing for the #gifted finished copy. The review is my unbiased opinion.

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did you know that Helen Keller had a brief vaudeville career? Did you know that she once professed fierce support for the burgeoning "science" of eugenics? Did you know that her favorite drink was an old fashioned? Did you know that her companion Annie Sullivan was, herself, legally blind for many years?

I didn't know any of these things about Helen Keller because, until reading this biography, I didn't even consider researching her beyond watching The Miracle Worker with my classmates in 6th grade. I really appreciate the nuances here, how Max Wallace doesn't shy away from exploring both the bright and unflattering moments of Helen's political activism and how she was at once an extremely devoted advocate for the marginalized and prone to dark political missteps that held long-lasting consequences.

Sometimes this book dragged a little for me because of how much history has to be incorporated to provide context for these chapters, but more academic readers than I should have no problem with that.

[Fabigail Cohen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating look at someone who is now known primarily as a source of inspiration porn. As a child I read a comic book version of The Story of My Life, and that was all I knew -- the little girl lost in "darkness and silence," her brilliant teacher Annie Sullivan, the miracle at the water pump. This book reveals someone much more complex and much more interesting -- a woman who enjoyed a drink and a dirty joke, a card-carrying Socialist whose critique of capitalism included how it both caused disability through unsafe industrial practices, and kept people with disabilities in dependence and poverty, a flawed person who had some of the prejudices of her time, a strong and brilliant person who was nevertheless exploited by the American Foundation for the Blind and by individuals who purportedly wanted to help. She was not a saint. She was a complex and fascinating human being who tried to use her power for good, and whose full story deserves to be more widely known.

[Deb Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more than a chronological account of Helen Keller’s life.
I learned a lot about all the people she met and collaborated with for multiple causes. A good space in the beginning of the book was a detailed account of Annie Sullivan’s background.
The author gave information as it helped to give depth in the events folks remember. For instance, a brief introduction or acquaintance of someone in 1930 later developed into a collaborative effort for civil rights later in her life.
The author also collated other biographical efforts by other authors and explained how bias for or against Helen may have influenced that biography.
Finally the author gives a balanced view of common memories of Helen as a 6 year old “at the well” with Ann Sullivan with a view of Helen showing compassion for displaced and homeless refugees.

[Bibliohiker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. We only remember her as the child at the water pump learning that the sign for water equals the liquid running out of the pump.
I think many people know Helen Keller as a champion for the deaf blind and visually impaired but she was much more than that. I also liked that it gave a bit of backstory on several key figures,Samuel Gridley Howe and Laura Bridgeman to name a few, that came before Helen Keller. Annie Sullivan’s history was interesting to read as well, since she was left partly blind by an eye infection. Helen Keller was a spitfire that didn’t stay quiet on things that mattered to her. She also went after the things she wanted, such as, getting a degree and writing books.

[Sinistmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew the story of Helen Keller's childhood (specifically the water pump incident), but I was ignorant of her adult life before reading this great biography by Max Wallace. I found myself fascinated; I usually keep a nonfiction book going at a time, but, unlike others I read out of habit, I was eager to pick this one up. Wallace takes the reader through Helen Keller's life of activism as well as her legacy was shaped. Learning about her beliefs and actions made her feel like someone I would enjoy talking with, and I thought Wallace did a good job of breathing life into her story without going too far beyond what the historical evidence can offer.

I recommend After the Miracle to readers interested in learning more about Helen Keller and disability history generally.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the Miracle is a fantastic book for anyone who wants to know more about Helen Keller's life beyond her childhood. I really appreciated how Wallace starts the book with the first famous deaf-blind person (Laura Bridgman) and her teacher (Sam Gridley Howe) to build Keller's history. From there, it shows Keller's personal and political life as well as a few scandals. Overall, Wallace did a great job correcting the record while not shying away from some of Keller's darker beliefs.
Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Angelina Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helen Keller is so much more than what I remember from studying her as a kid. The read is sometimes bogged down in details, but it all ties together. It is mind boggling that she not only traveled the world to places like South Africa and Japan, but she gave lectures. Together with Teacher, she created opportunities like spending 4 years on the Vaudeville. How many women can say they influenced policy the way she did or had the audacity to write to world leaders like Hitler. She even met with 13 US Presidents over the years and made her pleas directly to them to pass legislation.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helen scholars and fans must endure the early life and Miracle story in order to appreciate the woman she grows into. You can skip it, or wade through for a sense of Wallace's tone and emphasis. what you came for is adult Helen, her early 20th C activism and her touch-and-go relationship with disabilities philanthropic foundations.

Christine Lakin's read is solid and warm, free of voice characterizations. Even Helen's voice is only the slightest change in timbre. Listen to more non-fiction!

[BookBrowse · Rating 5 out of 5]

After the Miracle is a portrait not of a saint or a miracle, but a woman with strong convictions living in a complicated world. I would highly recommend it for readers interested in civil rights and disability advocacy, or in 20th-century history more generally.
-Katharine Blatchford

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