TO CATCH AN ANGEL: Adventures in the World I Cannot See

by Robert Russell ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

For those with sight, the world of the blind is a mysterious, terrifying place. To come upon this book unaware is a highly edifying experience. Its author was partly blinded by an accident at the age of five, and his sight progressively worse until before he was seven he was left with no vision. He entered the New York Institute in the Bronx, and early in his teens mastered the intricacies of New York City's subways as his first step in a direction he barely understood. He was the first sightless student ever admitted to Hamilton College, and inter transferred to Yale where he played Braille bridge and majored in literature. Spurred by a long-deferred decision to prepare for college teaching, he surmounted rigorous obstacles to take a degree at Oxford. The descriptions of his research methods in preparing his thesis have an element of frenetic suspense- as well as sheer dogged determination. He married an English girl, brought her home, and after arduous searching interspersed with impatient waiting, finally attained his goal of a faculty position. Tape recorders, talking books, Braille writers and Braille libraries played an important part in his life, but he would not win until he had convinced sighted people who controlled the jobs he sought that he was in fact able to carry out the activities he had chosen to perform. There is an important lesson here for all who come into contact with handicapped persons. Russell gets his point across by minimizing any element of self-pity and emphasizing that with proper training and inclination, and any sort of fair employment practices, the handicapped can accomplish their share of the world's work in a thoroughly commendable fashion.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Vanguard

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1962

Categories: NONFICTION