The Story of My Life

Summary

This inspiring autobiography by Helen Keller is an account of her life from her family history up to her last years of college, supplemented by her personal letters from age seven to twenty-one. This edition includes letters and reports contributed by her teacher, Anne Sullivan, and the editor, John Albert Macy.

Not only does her story demonstrate the challenges of becoming educated after losing her sight and hearing as a small child, but also a peek into the history of the world for a Deafblind person in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It depicts a young woman with an irrepressible determination to prove that she has the capacity to live a meaningful life beyond society's vision of her boundaries. Her wisdom and keen observations defy her age. Through her words, we see how much and how little life has changed since 1900; all of it from the perspective of one whose physical restraints most of us cannot truly comprehend.

The supplemental information provides the additional context of the hurdles Helen Keller overcame to reach her accomplishments in life.