Beyond the Miracle Worker

March 2, 2009
After writing two books about Helen Keller, historian Nielsen (The Radical Lives of Helen Keller
) vowed she “would never again write anything even remotely related to her.” Fortunately, she couldn't help herself: upon reviewing the letters of Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan Macy, Nielsen “became convinced had shortchanged the woman known only as the teacher of Helen Keller.” Through Sullivan's correspondence and notes, Nielsen remedies this lack with a “lightly fictionalized” autobiography drawing on the written impressions of Keller and others. Nielsen devotedly chronicles Sullivan's emergence as an opinionated and intelligent if troubled woman who was born poor, afflicted early on with a debilitating eye disease and abandoned to an almshouse after her mother's death. Luck and innate ability plucked her out of the asylum and placed her in the classroom. But Nielsen concedes that Sullivan's relationship with Keller took center stage in both the public consciousness and private life. Citing historical uncertainty, Nielsen self-consciously skims over Sullivan's early teaching methods, including that iconic moment at the water pump—the very moment we all wonder about. 4 b&w photos.