In this revealing biography, journalist and filmmaker Wallace (In the Name of Humanity) shifts the focus from Helen Keller's much-mythologized childhood to her lifelong engagement with radical politics and progressive causes. An avowed socialist, Keller argued that the most effective way to address disability was to combat the inequalities and injustices of the capitalist system. She also spoke out against both world wars and in favor of women's suffrage and access to birth control, and condemned Jim Crow segregation and South African apartheid. Keller's willingness to take controversial public stances--including, for a brief period, in support of eugenics--strained her relationships with the American Federation for the Blind and other disability rights groups, and Wallace uncovers numerous instances in which Keller was persuaded to issue statements that pacified donors and preserved her status as an appealing inspirational figure. Still, Keller's prominence protected her from the consequences suffered by other radicals, and Wallace departs from other Keller biographers in suggesting that she was a "fellow traveler" with the Communist Party in the 1930s and '40s and maintained her admiration for the Soviet experiment even into the 1950s. Meticulous research and the author's nuanced perspective make this is an enlightening study of Keller's fierce commitment to justice. Agent: John Pearce and Chris Casuccio, Westwood Creative Artists. (Apr.)

A fresh look at an international icon, offering new perspectives on her life and work. Helen Keller (1880-1968) is remembered today as a deaf and blind child who learned to read, write, and speak, graduated college, and lived a productive life devoted to helping others. This was only part of her story, writes Canadian journalist and filmmaker Wallace in this compelling biography, which aims to quash the traditional maudlin portrayal as well as the misleading Oscar-winning 1963 movie whose hero is not Helen but her teacher, Annie Sullivan, the "Miracle Worker." Though the author praises Sullivan as a brilliant teacher, he adds that Keller's greatness was not merely her ability to learn, but what she accomplished with it. She was fluent in six languages, read vastly in all, and wrote numerous books, essays, and lectures, many highly opinionated. When she published her bestselling autobiography, The Story of My Life, in 1903, she was already hailed as an inspirational figure. This remains the popular image, although even during her life, the media worked hard to discount activities that would have offended admirers. Keller joined the Socialist Party of America in 1909 but left after several years because she believed it was too moderate. Like many reformers, she welcomed the Russian Revolution, and she never lost her "admiration" for the Soviet Union, even after it became unfashionable. She denounced racism both in the American South and South Africa long before it became fashionable, spoke out against poverty and child labor, supported unions and women's suffrage, and served as a founding board member for the ACLU. This created difficulties for historians as well as journalists, and Wallace delivers an amusing review of Keller biographies. Early writers simply fawned, while later biographers dropped hints of radicalism. More recent works, especially Joseph Lash's Helen and Teacher (1980), produced widespread outrage. Even Lash waffles by assuring readers that Keller was likely "duped" by communists, but Wallace expresses convincing doubt. A revealing life of an important historical figure that does not diminish her. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Most people know Helen Keller as the blind, deaf, and nonverbal little girl portrayed in the film The Miracle Worker who was taught to communicate through the efforts of her remarkable teacher, Annie Sullivan. But there is much more to the life stories of Keller and Sullivan than the limited, if inspirational narrative of the movie, as Wallace's superb biographical chronicle makes clear. Keller went on to become one of the most famous--and sometimes controversial--progressive activists of the mid-twentieth century. She forged friendships with such towering figures as Mark Twain and a preimprisonment Nelson Mandela. She went up against Jim Crow, Nazism, McCarthyism, apartheid, and a host of other evils. But Wallace's intent is not to lionize Keller and Sullivan, who continued to serve as Keller's companion and translator for years. Both women had flaws beyond the famous myth; Wallace also chronicles those flaws, not to diminish the pair's accomplishments but to paint a more complete picture of the imperfect humanity behind the inspirational narrative. He shows that just because saints have feet of clay, that doesn't make them less saintly.