# The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight - Paperback

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by **Andrew Leland** (Author)

**A witty, winning, and revelatory personal narrative of the author's transition from sightedness to blindness and his quest to learn about blindness as a rich culture all its own**

"_The Country of the Blind_ is about seeing--but also about marriage and family and the moral and emotional challenge of accommodating the parts of ourselves that scare us. A warm, profound, and unforgettable meditation on how we adjust to new ways of being in the world." --Rachel Aviv, author of _Strangers to Ourselves_

We meet Andrew Leland as he's suspended in the liminal state of the soon-to-be blind: he's midway through his life with retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that ushers those who live with it from sightedness to blindness over years, even decades. He grew up with full vision, but starting in his teenage years, his sight began to degrade from the outside in, such that he now sees the world as if through a narrow tube. Soon--but without knowing exactly when--he will likely have no vision left.

Full of apprehension but also dogged curiosity, Leland embarks on a sweeping exploration of the state of being that awaits him: not only the physical experience of blindness but also its language, politics, and customs. He negotiates his changing relationships with his wife and son, and with his own sense of self, as he moves from his mainstream, "typical" life to one with a disability. Part memoir, part historical and cultural investigation, _The Country of the Blind_ represents Leland's determination not to merely survive this transition but to grow from it--to seek out and revel in that which makes blindness enlightening.

Thought-provoking and brimming with warmth and humor, _The Country of the Blind_ is a deeply personal and intellectually exhilarating tour of a way of being that most of us have never paused to consider--and from which we have much to learn.

### Author Biography

**Andrew Leland's** writing has appeared in _The New York Times Magazine_, _The New Yorker_, _McSweeney's Quarterly_, and _The San Francisco Chronicle_, among other outlets. From 2013-2019, he hosted and produced _The Organist_, an arts and culture podcast, for KCRW; he has also produced pieces for _Radiolab_ and _99 Percent Invisible_. He has been an editor at _The Believer_ since 2003. He lives in western Massachusetts with his wife and son.

**Number of Pages:** 464

**Dimensions:** 0.87 x 9.13 x 5.98 IN

**Publication Date:** August 29, 2023

**Large Print:** Yes

## Details

- **Price:** 31.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 31.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight - Paperback
- The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight - Paperback

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