A political biography that reveals new sides to Helen Keller Several decades after her death in 1968, Helen Keller remains one of the most widely recognized women of the twentieth century. But the fascinating story of her vivid political life-particularly her interest in radicalism and anti-capitalist activism-has been largely overwhelmed by the sentimentalized story of her as a young deaf-blind girl. Keller had many lives indeed. Best known for her advocacy on behalf of the blind, she was also a member of the socialist party, an advocate of women's suffrage, a defender of the radical International Workers of the World, and a supporter of birth control-and she served as one of the nation's most effective but unofficial international ambassadors. In spite of all her political work, though, Keller rarely explored the political dimensions of disability, adopting beliefs that were often seen as conservative, patronizing, and occasionally repugnant. Under the wing of Alexander Graham Bell, a controversial figure in the deaf community who promoted lip-reading over sign language, Keller became a proponent of oralism, thereby alienating herself from others in the deaf community who believed that a rich deaf culture was possible through sign language. But only by distancing herself from the deaf community was she able to maintain a public image as a one-of-a-kind miracle. Using analytic tools and new sources, Kim E. Nielsen's political biography of Helen Keller has many lives, teasing out the motivations for and implications of her political and personal revolutions to reveal a more complex and intriguing woman than the Helen Keller we thought we knew.

The first book to cover the entirety of disability history, from pre-1492 to the present
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Disability is not just the story of someone we love or the story of whom we may become; rather it is undoubtedly the story of our nation. Covering the entirety of US history from pre-1492 to the present, "A Disability History of the United States" is the first book to place the experiences of people with disabilities at the center of the American narrative. In many ways, it's a familiar telling. In other ways, however, it is a radical repositioning of US history. By doing so, the book casts new light on familiar stories, such as slavery and immigration, while breaking ground about the ties between nativism and oralism in the late nineteenth century and the role of ableism in the development of democracy.
"A Disability History of the United States" pulls from primary-source documents and social histories to retell American history through the eyes, words, and impressions of the people who lived it. As historian and disability scholar Nielsen argues, to understand disability history isn't to narrowly focus on a series of individual triumphs but rather to examine mass movements and pivotal daily events through the lens of varied experiences. Throughout the book, Nielsen deftly illustrates how concepts of disability have deeply shaped the American experience--from deciding who was allowed to immigrate to establishing labor laws and justifying slavery and gender discrimination. Included are absorbing--at times horrific--narratives of blinded slaves being thrown overboard and women being involuntarily sterilized, as well as triumphant accounts of disabled miners organizing strikes and disability rights activists picketing Washington.
Engrossing and profound, "A Disability History of the United States" fundamentally reinterprets how we view our nation's past: from a stifling master narrative to a shared history that encompasses us all.

Anna Ott died in the Wisconsin State Hospital for the Insane in 1893. She had enjoyed status and financial success first as a physician's wife and then as the only female doctor in Madison. Throughout her first marriage, attempts to divorce her abusive second husband, and twenty years of institutionalization, Ott determinedly shaped her own life. Kim E. Nielsen explores a life at once irregular and unexceptional. Historical and institutional structures, like her whiteness and laws that liberalized divorce and women's ability to control their property, opened up uncommon possibilities for Ott. Other structures, from domestic violence in the home to rampant sexism and ableism outside of it, remained a part of even affluent women's lives. Money, Marriage, and Madness tells a forgotten story of how the legal and medical cultures of the time shaped one woman-and what her life tells us about power and society in nineteenth century America.

Anna Ott died in the Wisconsin State Hospital for the Insane in 1893. She had enjoyed status and financial success first as a physician's wife and then as the only female doctor in Madison. Throughout her first marriage, attempts to divorce her abusive second husband, and twenty years of institutionalization, Ott determinedly shaped her own life. Kim E. Nielsen explores a life at once irregular and unexceptional. Historical and institutional structures, like her whiteness and laws that liberalized divorce and women's ability to control their property, opened up uncommon possibilities for Ott. Other structures, from domestic violence in the home to rampant sexism and ableism outside of it, remained a part of even affluent women's lives. Money, Marriage, and Madness tells a forgotten story of how the legal and medical cultures of the time shaped one woman-and what her life tells us about power and society in nineteenth century America.

"[My life] is so rich with blessings-an immense capacity of enjoyment, books, and beloved friends. . . . Most earnestly I pray the dear Heavenly Father that I may sometime make myself far more worthy of the love shown to me than I am now." -April 22, 1900 letter from Helen Keller to John Hitz, AFB When Helen Keller died in 1968, at the age of eighty-eight years old, she was one of the most widely known women in the world. The overnight success of her biography, The Story of My Life, written at age twenty-three, made it obvious to Keller that she was endowed with a gift for writing and speaking. As she got older, she increasingly began to do both on a variety of subjects extending beyond her own disability, including social, political, and theological issues. Helen Keller: Selected Writings collects Keller's personal letters, political writings, speeches, and excerpts of her published materials from 1887 to 1968. The book also includes an introductory essay by Kim E. Nielsen, headnotes to each document, and a selected bibliography of work by and about Keller. The majority of the letters and some prints, all drawn from the Helen Keller Archives at the American Foundation for the Blind in New York, are being published for the first time. Literature, education, advocacy, politics, religion, travel: the many interests of Helen Keller culminate in this book and are reflected in her spirited narration. Also portrayed are the individuals Keller inspired and took inspiration from, including her teacher Annie Sullivan, her family, and others with whom she formed friendships throughout the course of her life. This often charming collection revels in and preserves Keller's public and private life, coming to us in the year which marks the 125th anniversary of her birthday.

View the Table of Contents.
Read the Introduction.

"Nielsen has compiled an outstanding collection, including many letters and photos that are being published for the first time. And even if you didn't grow up in Alabama, you may still marvel about how a little girl from Tuscumbia not only beat the odds but also blazed trails."
--"Dallas Morning News"

"Stunning final chapter."
--"The Yale Review"

"If you have not read Kim Nielsen's "The Radical Lifes of Helen Keller," then I highly recommend it. As a person who has labored through numerous thick volumes on the life of this remarkable deaf-blind woman, I am delighted with Nielsen's concise and refreshing scholarly work. She examines Keller's life from a Disability Studies perspective. The book is enjoyable and easy to read, and it captures Keller's political dimension with great detail, based on such additional-and sometimes chilling-sources as military intelligence and FBI files. Nielsen does great justice to both the subject of her book and to Disability Studies as an emerging field."
--"Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education"

"This is an important book."
-- "Altar Magazine"

"Nielsen's study challenges our impoverished cultural memories of Keller, which may have for too long served to "flatten" both our understanding not just of Keller's complex, contradictory life, but also the politics of disability, U.S. racialism, and women's political activities."
--"On Campus with Women"

""The Radical Lives of Helen Keller" thus is an important, essential guide for any who would receive a well-rounded survey of her life."
--"The Midwest Book Review"

""Radical Lives" fills out an important dimension ofour cultural memory of the adult Helen Keller."
--"www.msmagazine.com"

"Nielsen's account is thoroughly researched, well organized and extremely well written....a truly important and exciting work."
--"Ragged Edge Online"

"Nielson examines Helen Keller's radical politics and the various reasons her politcal views were so often neglected."
--"Library Journal"

"Based on expansive research in wide-ranging materials, including military intelligence and FBI files, Kim Nielsen unveils Helen Keller's political life. This finely written biography helps us understand the movement for disability rights in our own time."
--Linda K. Kerber, author of "No Constitutional Right to Be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship"

"The book's compactness, straightforward writing style, and revolutionary approach make "The Radical Lives of Helen Keller"invaluable for both teachers and scholars. Keller would be delighted that Nielsen allowed her her Scotch." --"Journal of American History"

"Nielsen's book gives us a Helen Keller for our times. We meet a complex person whose politics defy our reductionist knowledge about her, whose lived experience makes for compelling reading. "The Radical Lives of Helen Keller" renders three-dimensional, perhaps for the first time, a figure who all too often is known to the world, but known in minimalist flatness merely as a symbol of overcoming disability. Nielsen shows us that there is so much more to Keller--a political activist, theorist, and intellectual with unconventional, and, yes, even uncomfortable, opinions. She forthrightly explores these contradictions, in lucid, readable prose, to allow a very real version of Helen Keller toemerge from the darkness."
--Lennard J. Davis, author of "Bending Over Backwards: Essays on Disability and the Body"

Several decades after her death in 1968, Helen Keller remains one of the most widely recognized women of the twentieth century. But the fascinating story of her vivid political life--particularly her interest in radicalism and anti-capitalist activism--has been largely overwhelmed by the sentimentalized story of her as a young deaf-blind girl.

Keller had many lives indeed. Best known for her advocacy on behalf of the blind, she was also a member of the socialist party, an advocate of women's suffrage, a defender of the radical International Workers of the World, and a supporter of birth control--and she served as one of the nation's most effective but unofficial international ambassadors. In spite of all her political work, though, Keller rarely explored the political dimensions of disability, adopting beliefs that were often seen as conservative, patronizing, and occasionally repugnant. Under the wing of Alexander Graham Bell, a controversial figure in the deaf community who promoted lip-reading over sign language, Keller became a proponent of oralism, thereby alienating herself from others in the deaf community who believed that a rich deaf culture was possible through sign language. But only by distancing herself from the deaf community was she able to maintain a public image as a one-of-a-kind miracle.

Using analytic tools and new sources, Kim E. Nielsen's political biography of Helen Keller has many lives, teasing out the motivations for and implications of her political and personal revolutions to reveal a more complex and intriguing woman than the HelenKeller we thought we knew.