After many years; historian and Helen Keller expert Kim Nielsen realized that she; along with other historians and biographers; had failed Anne Sullivan Macy. While Macy is remembered primarily as Helen Keller's teacher and mythologized as a straightforward educational superhero; the real story of this brilliant; complex; and misunderstood woman; who described herself as a "badly constructed human being;" has never been completely told. Beyond the Miracle Worker; the first biography of Macy in nearly fifty years; complicates the typical Helen-Annie "feel good" narrative in surprising ways. By telling the life from Macy's perspective-not Keller's-the biography is the first to put Macy squarely at the center of the story. It presents a new and fascinating tale about a wounded but determined woman and her quest for a successful; meaningful life. Born in 1866 to poverty-stricken Irish immigrants; the parentless and deserted Macy suffered part of her childhood in the Massachusetts State Almshouse at Tewksbury. Seeking escape; in love with literature; and profoundly stubborn; she successfully fought to gain an education at the Perkins School for the Blind. As an adult; Macy taught Keller; helping the girl realize her immense potential; and Macy's intimate friendship with Keller remained powerful throughout their lives. Yet as Macy floundered with her own blindness; ill health; and depression; as well as a tumultuous and triangulated marriage; she came to lean on her former student; emotionally; physically; and economically. Based on privately held primary source material; including materials at both the American Foundation for the Blind and the Perkins School for the Blind; Beyond the Miracle Worker is revelatory and absorbing; unraveling one of the best known-and least understood-friendships of the twentieth century.
#1088196 in Books Beacon Press 2010-03-01 2010-03-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.95 x .65 x 5.95l; .83 #File Name: 0807006130256 pages
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Is Bolivian democracy and rights of mother earth the answer the author is looking for?By susan nashI enjoyed this book very much. I would also recommend Robert Thurman's Inner Revolution which has more faith in democracy than does Bruce Rich. I also was saddened that he talks about resolutions before the UN for world justice and peace; but he does not mention the several resolutions put forth by Bolivia under the leadership of Eva Morales for the Rights of Mother Earth and indigenous peoples everywhere. It seems that when we are talking about the history of the world and the Axial Age that we must revisit; we include some parts of the southern hemisphere (India); but forget about Central and South America and Africa.... not only for what they did in the past; but what they are doing today to lead us into Axial Age II. What's wrong with including capitalism and our not democratic USA as a major cause of our current lack of Respect for All Living Beings? I do not agree that we need to balance the Axial Age belief in basic goodness with a materialistic belief in basic badness and that somehow we can blend the two together and still have respect for all living beings... except the bad ones? Unless we assume we are all one and all basically good; I do not see justice and respect for all living beings in the human species' future; and I see a very short future for the human species.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Attempting to call upon the wisdom of past thought leaders for guidance for today's challengesBy Glenn A. CarletonI had low expectations of this book as I expected it to be mostly history about Ashoka than substantive regarding guidance for today's modern society. I was not looking for its message to be profound; just content of Ashoka as a character and that historical time period I have been studying. The author went far deeper than I expected; truly attempted to translate his broad studies into something politicians today could benefit from - use for Guidance. Unlikely that this book will be read by a large audience; or ever have a following to make a difference; my guess is in 5 years there might be 5 comments left on . If I was in charge of forcing our politicians to read a set of books over the next year; this would be one of them. In spite of their rhetoric; few politicians seem to have any guiding principles to follow; and certainly do not follow the false ones they claim to. For a thoughtful politician; this book could provide considerable content to reflect upon and guidance on how we should govern ourselves.What surprised me was the additional; more contemporary material than just Ashoka; that he included. His discussion on Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments I felt was deep and highly relevant to the topic at hand; such that I found the wisdom of Adam Smith to be greater and more relevant than the other historical players he brings as having wisdom worth considering for today's challenges. Adam Smith; the so called father of capitalism; has not been widely read for his Wealth of Nations (superficial reading at best done merely to promote Capitalism/Invisible Hand theories). Those who understand Smith's views on the benefits and dangers of capitalism and the so-called foundation of the Invisible Hand understand Smith is at present poorly understood and often mis-quoted; that he in fact felt the laws of nature require government action and oversight to ensure Capitalism did not go a muck (Capitalism appeals to the self-love side of human nature; which he saw as good; but potentially very dangerous if not dominated by sympathy-for-others capacity also part of our human nature). Theory of Moral Sediments was Smith's final thinking after completing his Wealth of Nations - the WoN book was his warm up for his final thoughts; ToMS requiring 6 editions to get his final thoughts completed. Rich does an excellent job of extracting from Adam Smith of what he really was promoting; and in my view; Adam Smith and Ashoka can both be viewed as important historical players we can learn from today.Those who read this book will become more depressed about the ability of our government to function. Dysfunctional seems generous. As Adam Smith says; do what is praiseworthy and do not seek praise - and all will work out. The problems we have in America today are our own fault. We put the present batch of politicians into office; we allowed them to seek and achieve personal gain; and we allowed them to pay attention to those who contribute money versus the whole of society. We deserve what we are getting; and the only way I see it changing is for our citizens to become educated on many of the principles articulated in this book. Because I have no optimism that our citizens will get educated or our politicians self-correct; I see Change only coming from protest movements like OWS. Those who see America potentially returning once again to its past glory (and exceptionalism)are either deluding themselves; or trying to write a book on how we can get there. I see none of them having any chance of materializing.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Insightful book on contemporary dilemmasBy PShomeA very timely book providing insight on the global problems and dilemmas; that we are facing now.
