The Imprisoned Guest: Samuel Howe and Laura Bridgman, the Original Deaf-Blind Girl

The Imprisoned Guest: Samuel Howe and Laura Bridgman, the Original Deaf-Blind Girl

Presents the inspiring story of deaf-blind Laura Bridgman's troubling, tumultuous relationship with the director of Boston's Perkins Institution for the Blind, who rode Laura's outstanding achievements to his own fame but who could not cope with the intense, demanding adult she became. Left blind and deaf at the age of two, Laura Bridgman became a 19th-century celebrity as the prot g of Samuel Gridley Howe, who successfully taught her to use language. Both of these scholarly studies are based on primary sources and describe Bridgman's education firmly in the context of the social reform, educational, and religious movements of the time. Gitter (English, CUNY) offers more biographical information on Bridgman and Howe; Freeberg (humanities, Colby-Sawyer) emphasizes educational and philosophical theory. Scrutinized and manipulated much of her early life as the subject of educational theory, Bridgman nevertheless maintained a sense of self-assertiveness. Late in her life she met Helen Keller, then a child, who would entirely eclipse her fame. These two studies reveal as much about the motives of her teachers and the intellectual climate of the time as they do about Bridgman herself. Either title would be appropriate for academic collections in education or women's studies, but the writing is accessible and engaging enough for public libraries. Patricia A. Beaber, Coll. of New Jersey Lib., Ewing Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. Before Helen Keller, there was Laura Bridgman, who fit the Victorian image of handicapped, female suffering but lacked the sweet temper Victorians preferred in their heroines. Gitter compellingly limns this complex woman and her teacher, Samuel Howe. Bridgman lost her sight and hearing to scarlet fever when she was two. Howe, an ambitious adventurer and avid believer in self-improvement, directed a school for deaf and blind children and searched for the perfect human subject to prove his theories. He found what he wanted in Bridgman, whose ravenous appetite for learning suited his purposes. With her parents' permission, he took her from the family farm in New Hampshire to Boston's Perkins Institution for the Blind, where she lived for much of the rest of her life. She was taught to finger spell, read raised letters, and write legibly, and she served as the test case for controversial theories concerning such things as educating the handicapped and the role of religion and philosophy in human development. Inspiring and fascinating. Vanessa Bush Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "Learned and sensitive." -- Richard Bernstein, The New York Times "Stimulating a challenging mix of American history and unique biography that at times can wring the heart." -- Kirkus Reviews "Well written and documented." -- Natalie Angier, The New York Times Book Review Elisabeth Gitter is a professor of English at the City University of New York's John Jay College who specializes in the Victorian era.