author
Harry Best
1880–1971
A pioneering American sociologist, he wrote landmark early-20th-century studies about the lives, education, and social standing of deaf and blind people in the United States. His books aimed to make overlooked communities visible to a wider public.
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About the author
Born in Kentucky in 1880, Harry Best became an American sociologist whose work focused on disability, education, and public welfare. Reliable catalog and digitized-book records confirm that he lived from December 23, 1880, to February 23, 1971.
Best is best remembered for major studies including The Deaf: Their Position in Society and the Provision for Their Education in the United States (1914), The Blind: Their Condition and the Work Being Done for Them in the United States (1919), and the later Deafness and the Deaf in the United States (1943). Material from Gallaudet University shows that The Deaf was submitted as part of his Ph.D. work at Columbia University, and Project Gutenberg describes it as a sociological study of how deaf Americans were treated, educated, and understood in public life.
His writing is notable for its broad, research-driven view of communities that were often discussed only in medical or charitable terms. Even when some of his period language now feels dated, his books remain useful historical records of how the United States approached deafness, blindness, schooling, and social policy in the early 1900s.