Sound-Blind

“Through an ambitious analysis that touches on the fields of literature, anthropology, history, and disability studies, Benson argues that transcription . . . is ‘always socially embedded.’ . . . Benson’s extensive use of sources spanning multiple disciplines is very impressive, showing the depth of research and knowledge that went into Sound-Blind.”—H-Disability

“Benson’s book is not only exhaustively researched and highly original, but it also offers surprising archival finds relating to its subjects. It is brimming with insights, and there is never a dull moment as the reader is carried along by the waves of observation and material.”—Julie Beth Napolin, The New School

“For Benson, attending to transcriptions—and especially botched transcriptions, revised transcriptions, inaccurate transcriptions, and even the impossibility of transcriptions—helps tell the story of the unrecorded social and cultural transactions shaping some of the period’s most pressing social issues. This is an exciting book, one that will move forward the ongoing conversation about how to conceive of and write cultural history. It is an archival marvel, managing to bring to life an 'untranscribed' slice of history that few of us would have noticed or even imagined existing.”—Brad Evans, Rutgers University