The World I Live In (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

by Helen Keller (Author), Roger Shattuck (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Helen Keller's The Story of My Life changed the world. But The World I Live In, Keller's sequel to her autobiography, remains almost completely unknown. Here, responding to skeptics who doubted that a girl who was blind, deaf, and mute almost from birth could find words to describe her experience, Keller presents a striking word-picture of her reality. The World I Live In is an evocative, inspirational, and deeply moving account of an extraordinary woman's keenest impressions. It includes Keller's first published essay, written when she was 12 years old.

About the Author
HELEN ADAMS KELLER (1880–1968) was born in Tuscumbia, a small town in northwest Alabama, with full sight and hearing. At nineteen months she suffered a mysterious illness that left her both blind and deaf and interrupted her speech development. Her parents consulted a local expert on the problems of deaf children, the inventor Alexander Graham Bell, who directed them to the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind. Anne Sullivan, a former student of the institution, began to teach Helen and succeeded in communicating with her in 1887, after which her pupil made extraordinary progress in both reading and writing. Helen Keller entered Radcliffe College in 1900, the first deaf-blind person to attend an institution of higher learning, and graduated in 1904. While in college, she wrote The Story of My Life, published in 1903. The book sold poorly at first, but established itself as a classic, inspiring popular accounts of Keller’s story such as William Gibson’s 1959 play The Miracle Worker. Keller’s second book, The World I Live In, followed in 1908. In subsequent years, Helen Keller joined the Socialist Party and embarked on a career as a public lecturer, raising funds for the American Foundation for the Blind, while writing several other books, including Teacher, her tribute to Anne Sullivan. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964. The bronze plaque commemorating Helen Keller at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., has been replaced several times, because its Braille inscription has been repeatedly worn away by visitors.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: NYRB Classics (January 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590170679
• ISBN-13: 978-1590170670
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #142,869 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully touching, November 5, 2004

By	Deb B., Morris County (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

What beautiful writing! It's pointed out in the intro that, more than most of us, her world was shaped with WORDS. I've only read about four essays so far, and am profoundly touched. I've always admired Helen Keller, but am newly re-impressed with her wisdom and vision, and touched that she can write so clearly as to make me feel how little she felt limited by her handicap. If Helen Keller had simply learned to behave and ask politely for her food, etc, it would have been an impressive accomplishment. The fact that she grew to fully embrace her intelligence, her world and her potential . . . wow. I know so many people who are content to just do the bare minimum, to not stretch their limits at all, to not show any intellectual curiosity . . . she had the perfect excuse to exert the least effort, yet she didn't. Once she was given the key, the entree to humanity, she didn't let her handicaps stop her. I love that even all these years later, she is still able to share that.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Her world without sight and sound., March 26, 2007

By	Gary W. Shields - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

She tries to help you understand the reality of her life. It is much more than you can imagine.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars very prompt efficient delivery, May 19, 2008

By	Barbara A. Haehn (Wapakoneta, Ohio) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I received the book promptly. The material was in new condition without any flaws. I was very pleased. Thank you!