The Education of Laura Bridgman by Ernest Freeberg

The Education of Laura Bridgman by Ernest Freeberg

In the mid-19th century, Laura Bridgman, a young child from New Hampshire, became one of the most famous women in the world. Philosophers, theologians, and educators hailed her as a miracle, and a vast public followed the intimate details of her life with rapt attention. This girl, all but forgotten today, was the first deaf and blind person ever to learn language. Laura's dark and silent life was transformed when she became the star pupil of the educational crusader Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe. Against the backdrop of an antebellum Boston seething with debates about human nature, programs of moral and educational reform, and battles between conservative and liberal Christians, Freeberg tells this extraordinary tale of mentor and student, scientist and experiment. Under Howe's constant tutelage, Laura voraciously absorbed the world around her, learning to communicate through finger language, as well as to write with confidence. Her remarkable breakthroughs vindicated Howe's faith in the power of education to overcome the most terrible of disabilities. In Howe's hands, Laura's education became an experiment that he hoped would prove his own controversial ideas about the body, mind, and soul. This is a story of how a sightless and soundless girl gained contact with an ever-widening world, and also a cautionary tale about the way moral crusades and scientific progress can compromise each other. Anticipating the life of Helen Keller a half-century later, Laura's is a pioneering story of the journey from isolation to accomplishment, as well as a window onto what it means to be human under the most trying conditions.

Ernest Freeberg is the author of Democracy's Prisoner, which was a nominee for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and The Education of Laura Bridgman. He lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, and is a renowned professor of humanities at the University of Tennessee.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780674005891
ISBN 10	0674005899
Title	The Education of Laura Bridgman
Author	Ernest Freeberg
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Harvard University Press
Year published	2001-05-11
Number of pages	272
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.