Davis, John, ed. Helen Keller.

(Rebel Lives). Ocean Press. 88p. c2003, 1-876175-60-5. $9.95. SA

One might not expect to find a little book on Helen Keller in a series called Rebel Lives, but rebel she certainly was, at least in the early years of her public career. In his introduction, the editor vigorously challenges the generally held image of the "poor little blind girl," the often-seen child of William Gibson's The Miracle Worker, the heroic victim/sufferer frequently portrayed in literature for young readers. Helen Keller was an avowed socialist, a member of the IWW, a suffragette, a supporter of Eugene Debs and a denouncer of American involvement in WW I. This text presents excerpts from her writings ranging from a 1901 article in the Ladies Home Journal in which she blames the social system for blindness in newborns, through a 1932 Atlantic Monthly article, "Put Your Husband in the Kitchen," and a 1944 appearance before the House Committee on Labor. Keller's vehement defense of her socialist beliefs defies her critics who claim she had been duped (by her teacher Anne Sullivan Macy's husband) or brainwashed. While the activities of her later life were focused on causes related to the education of the deaf and the blind, these early texts reveal to the reader a little-known aspect of Helen Keller's life. Patricia A. Moore, Brookline, MA