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Life Unseen: A Story of Blindness
Author(s): Selina Mills (Author)
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
- Publication Date: 17 Oct. 2024
- Language: English
- Print length: 288 pages
- ISBN-10: 1350507210
- ISBN-13: 9781350507210
Book Description
Imagine a world without sight. Is it dark and gloomy? Is it terrifying and isolating? Or is it simply a state of not seeing, which we have demonised and sentimentalized over the centuries? And why is blindness so frightening?
Inspired by her own experience of losing her sight as she forged a successful journalistic career, Life Unseen takes us through a personal and unsentimental historical quest through the lives, stories and achievements of blind people – as well as those sighted people who sought to patronize, demonize and fix them. From the blind poet Homer, through the myths and moralising of early medieval culture to the scientific and medical discoveries of the Enlightenment and modern times, the story of blindness turns out to be a story of our whole culture.
In
this fascinating historical adventure, Broadcaster and authorSelina Mills takes us on a journey through the history of blindness in Western Culture to discover that blindness is not so dark after all.Inspired by her own experience of losing her sight as she forged a successful journalistic career, Life Unseen takes us through a personal and unsentimental historical quest through the lives, stories and achievements of blind people – as well as those sighted people who sought to patronize, demonize and fix them. From the blind poet Homer, through the myths and moralising of early medieval culture to the scientific and medical discoveries of the Enlightenment and modern times, the story of blindness turns out to be a story of our whole culture.
Editorial Reviews
Review
Written with wit, warmth and razor-sharp insight, this book should be essential reading for anyone with an interest in blindness, history, society, culture and beyond. –Non-fiction book of the month, The i, Anna Bonet
Informative, heartfelt … This admirable book dispels myths around the condition. –The Independent, Martin Chilton
Spirited, irreverent … Life Unseen offers an illuminating peek into one woman’s world, and asks searching questions of us all in terms of the different ways in which we perceive our world. There are no glib answers because blindness, as Life Unseen demonstrates, is a subject riven with ambiguity and complexity. In this important and hugely enjoyable book, Mills clears away some of the myths and injustices that surround it. –The Herald, Susan Flockhart
About the Author
Selina Mills is an award-winning writer and broadcaster who is legally blind. Educated in the USA and the UK, Selina has worked as a senior reporter and broadcaster for Reuters, The Daily Telegraph, and the BBC.
