Dorothy Herrmann

A well written and thorough book on this remarkable woman, Hellen Keller. Though she has long since passed most people would probably have heard of Hellen Keller but how much is really known about the life she led and the struggles and triumphs she endured and ascended to. This book covers many aspects of her life from the early struggle to comprehend and communicate with her beloved "Teacher", Annie Sullivan, to her beliefs and causes.

It is hard to understand what it would be to experience life with no hearing or sight but to function and thrive is what this woman did and along with the daily obstacle she had to reckon the emotional strains it imposed along with the struggle to control her by a number of people. Herrmann does a good job in delving into the complexities of these challenges and also covers the spiritual and political leanings of Hellen which gives us a complete picture of this captivating human being.… (mere)

Helen Keller: A Life, Dorothy Hermann's detailed and informative biography of Helen Keller is eye-opening, showing not only her many accomplishments, but also detailing Helen Keller's political and religious beliefs, her advocacy for the disabled, her life-long commitment against racism and bigotry. Although the narrative reads easily and is for the most part quite engaging, the text does have the tendency to become rather plodding and overly detailed at times, which unfortunately creates some emotional distance to the characters and episodes described. I learned much about Helen Keller, her teacher Annie Sullivan and late 19th, early and middle 20th century America, but I never felt all that emotionally connected to the characters, to the events, more like a dispassionate observer than an active participant.

I so appreciate that Dorothy Hermann has endeavoured to portray Helen Keller realistically. Often described as a saint by her supporters and a fraud by her detractors, she was neither. Helen Keller was a remarkable, strong-willed and intelligent woman; she should not be simply regarded as an icon for the disabled (or as a fraud, a cheater, as some mean-spirited individuals have claimed). She was a flesh-and-blood person with ideas, beliefs, feelings, a zest for life, but also an individual with faults and foibles like everyone. Helen Keller: A Life allows the reader to get to know who Helen Keller really was, her personality, her spirit, her very being (beyond her public image, Helen Keller was a woman who lived life to the fullest, who loved, who yearned and who also made her share of mistakes).… (mere)