"When Helen Keller, blind, deaf, and mute, was six years old, a young woman named Anne Sullivan entered her life. The daughter of Irish immigrants, Miss Sullivan was poor, ill, and nearly blind herself. She was inexperienced as a teacher. Yet she had the relentless vitality that was to force her pupil's unwilling mind from the depths of unconsciousness. To attempt to reach the intelligence of a young girl who fought the dark, silent world about her with temper tantrums and stubbornness--this was no project for an inexperienced young woman. But Anne Sullivan refused to admit defeat. When Helen was nine Miss Sullivan's untiring efforts were rewarded; her pupil was able to speak the words "I am not dumb now." It was one of the most dramatic achievements in the history of teaching. The introduction to this book outlines briefly the lives of these two vital women--their early life together as teacher and pupil, Helen's years at Radcliffe, the vaudeville tours and Hollywood movie, and their long association with the American Foundation for the Blind--to provide a background for this remarkable, inspiring biography by Helen Keller of her great teacher."--Dust jacket.