This biography of Helen Keller tells the story of the controversial and turbulent relationship between Helen and her teacher, Annie Sullivan. It chronicles Helens doomed love affair, her struggles to earn a living, her triumphs at Radcliffe College and her work as an advocate for the disabled. Helen Keller has been venerated as a saint or damned as a fraud, this book shows her as a beautiful, intelligent, high-strung and passionate woman whose life was transformed not only by her disabilities but also by the people on whose help and friendship she relied.

The story of Helen Keller, who triumphed over deafness and blindness and became "a symbol of the indomitable human spirit," is now considered one of the "hundred most important books of the twentieth century" (New York Public Library). Yet the astonishing original version, first published in 1903, has been out of print for many years. In this, "the restored classic," Roger Shattuck, in collaboration with Dorothy Hermann, has reedited the book to reflect its original composition. Keller's remarkable transformation is presented in three successive accounts: Keller's own version; the letters of "teacher" Anne Sullivan, submerged in the earliest edition; and the valuable documentation by their assistant, John Macy. Including opening and closing commentary by Shattuck and notes by Hermann, this volume has already established itself as the definitive edition of a classic work.