Customer Reviews

Beyond the Miracle Worker: The Remarkable Life of Anne Sullivan Macy and Her Extraordinary Friendship with Helen Keller

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Maybe it seems counter-intuitive to write a solo biography of Anne Sullivan Macy -- who would have heard of her if not for Helen Keller, right? Even for someone who's as nutzoid for Annie as I am, it's odd at first to read a biography in which Helen Keller gets so obviously sidelined. However, much as I value Joseph Lash's dual biography, Helen And Teacher: The Story Of Helen Keller And Anne Sullivan Macy (Radcliffe Biography Series), and as much as the two women's lives were intertwined, reading Nielsen's solo examination of Annie reveals just how much of a distraction keeping up with Helen Keller creates for those of us interested the intricacies of Annie Sullivan.

Without the focus constantly swinging toward the details of Helen's existence, vital elements like Annie's disabilities and mercurial personality virtually become characters in their own right. In fact, Nielsen shows that Annie's wavering eyesight, chronic pain, recurring illnesses, and lifelong bouts of melancholy were more debilitating than Helen's blindness and deafness -- though no one who spent 40-odd years standing next to a deaf-blind icon would dare draw attention to that fact. Not even saucy Annie Sullivan.

While many biographers tend to frame the hardships in Annie's early life as a rags-to-riches buildup to her successes as Helen Keller's famous teacher, Nielsen details the lingering effects of Annie's childhood traumas on her adult relationships and behavior. The truth of the matter is that Annie Sullivan was damaged goods, and even the salve of Helen's decades-long friendship never fully closed those wounds. No matter how much Helen loved and venerated her, Anne Sullivan Macy was not an easy woman to live with. Fortunately for the rest of us, all the extremes that made her such a trial and a delight make for a fascinating read under Nielsen's steady gaze.

Among the many qualities that this biography offers original reinterpretation of Anne Sullivan Macy's experiences as a woman, the daughter of immigrants (and as an ethnic minority), a reformer reaching across the economic barriers and social expectations, another woman with her own impairments. By highlighting Sullivan alone as well as through her famed relationship to Helen Keller, Nielsen offers us insights into a dynamic partnership that changes significantly over time. Her scholarship deserves particular attention, drawing not only on traditional sources but on broader cultural materials that enhance the context and meaning of this unique biography. I particularly appreciated that Nielsen acknowledged the "gray zones" in this work. It is simply not possible to know certain aspects about Sullivan's internal life (or details from her actual past). Noting when the data were unclear reminds us that historical biography strongly shapes our assumptions about the subject; owning what is interpretation and what is unknown enhances the credibility of the work.

This thoughtful, critical study for all its intellectual sophistication is surprising for its incredibly clear prose. Engaging, at times unflinching, this work invites us to understand Macy Sullivan as a complex, human, and relevant figure on her own and through her relationship as teacher and friend to Keller. I recommend this to students, scholars, and the public at large.

This was a very good book about HElen KEller and her teacher Anne Macy. I enjoyed it very much.

The whole premise of this biography is faulty. The author begins by saying this biography is about Annie Sullivan Macy, not Helen Keller. Aside from Annie's early years, her whole life was Helen Keller. And Helen Keller does figure very prominently in this biography. So, I'm not sure why the author bothered to say it was not about Helen. It was mainly just an excuse to trot out yet another biography about Annie Sullivan & Helen Keller. I did learn some things I did not know or had forgotten about Ms Sullivan and Ms Keller. I knew Ms Sullivan had eye trouble and that her vision was not perfect. I did not know she was so afflicted and she had so many eye surgeries. Nor did I know that her eye disease was basically caused by unhygenic conditions in her early childhood. It's sad and scary that so much pain and suffering was caused by simple lack of cleanliness.

I knew Ms Sullivan was a prickly personality but I did not know she had such a push/pull relationship with the Perkins Institute over the years. Even during her early student days, she was not easy to deal with. One would think since she was there on scholarship from a poor house, she would be a thankful cooperative student; but she was not.

What I found interesting was the push/pull relationship over who would claim public credit for Helen's educational success. I guess it makes sense that the powers that be would not want a mere woman to get credit for Helen's success when the Perkins Institute could claim public credit.

What I did not like about this biography was the author interjecting herself & her personal beliefs into the subject matter. She had some jibes to make over the Keller family's relationship to Ms Sullivan being from the North. Obviously, feelings ran high in Alabama in the years of the recent war upheaval. What is amazing is that a Southern family would open their home to a person from the North at all. It speaks of their love for Helen that they were able to do this.

The other odd thing the author said was that Annie Sullivan was not known publicly to have a vision problem. That she chose to hide her disability. Much like a lesbian or gay person would choose to hide. I thought this was a bizarre analogy to make. What Ms Sullivan's visual disability had to do with gay and lesbian people was not explained. And it seemed obvious that the author perhaps had her own personal axe to grind her.

The author said many many times "we just don't know" about whatever gaps there are in the knowledge of what Annie & Helen were doing at any given time or where they were. Or why they did something. We just don't know. This could be a drinking game if one wanted to. Drink a shot every time the author says we don't know and we will be laying in the floor in an hour.