Undaunted By Blindness: Concise Biographies of 400 People Who Refused to Let Visual Impairment Define Them

Undaunted By Blindness: Concise Biographies of 400 People Who Refused to Let Visual Impairment Define Them, by Clifford E. Olstrom. Watertown, Massachusetts: Perkins School for the Blind, 2010, 288 pp., $29.95.

Reviewed by Susan Jay Spungin

As Clifford E. Olstrom states in the Introduction to Undaunted by Blindness, the inspiration for writing about notable members of the field of visual impairment came from reading Ishbel Ross's 1951 book entitled, Journey Into Light: The Story of Education for the Blind. A classic in the literature on blindness, Ross's book was the first comprehensive effort to trace the lives of historically important individuals who were blind from 2650 B.C. to 1950 A.D. Both Journey Into Light and Undaunted by Blindness are must-read titles for all individuals who are interested in the blindness field. Members of the general population will find something of value in these books, as well. Readers should be sure not to miss the Foreword in Ross's book, which was written by Helen Keller. Featured prominently in both books, Keller offers a marvelous description of blindness in Ross's Foreword. She wrote: "blindness clutters the path of daily living" (p. viii), words that instruct as well as educate.