FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE  Named one of the best books of the year by: THE NEW YORKER • THE WASHINGTON POST • THE ATLANTIC • NPR • PUBLISHERS WEEKLY • LITHUB "Fascinating...The great strength of this memoir is its voracious, humble curiosity." - The Atlantic , The 10 Best Books of the Year 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. 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. 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. Brimming with warmth and humor, it is an exhilarating tour of a new way of being. “[Leland’s] education in navigating the world without his eyes is an entry point into a fascinating cultural history of blindness. The great strength of this memoir is its voracious, humble curiosity; throughout, Leland treats losing his vision as just as much an opportunity as a foreclosure.” — The Atlantic , “10 Best Books of the Year” “After reading Andrew Leland’s memoir, The Country of the Blind , you will look at the English language differently . . . [Leland’s] prose is jazzy and intelligent . . . Leland rigorously explores the disability’s most troubling corners . . . A wonderful cross-disciplinary wander.” — The New York Times Book Review “Heart-wrenching . . . Leland’s voice is wry, thoughtful, and vulnerable . . . Perhaps the memoir’s greatest gift is the way it compels the sighted reader to confront not only the paradoxes of blindness but the paradoxes of vision as well.” — The Los Angeles Review of Books “Andrew Leland, a writer with declining vision, offers an eloquent inner dialogue of stark honesty in The Country of the Blind.” — Jerome Groopman, The New York Review of Books “Engaging . . . The most memorable parts of [Leland’s] account are intimate moments of pure autobiography . . . Leland offers his own experience as a bridge between the blind and sighted worlds.” — The Wall Street Journal “Nerdy, often funny . . . and delicately tender . . . It’s a delight to tag along with Leland as he chronicles his new world of perception and what blind normalcy—and agency, and adventure—might come to feel like.” —Sophia Nguyen, The Washington Post “A thoughtful, beautifully expressed memoir . . . [It] articulates . . . with energy and honesty how being held between seeing and blindness has changed [Leland] and his views on our ableist world . . . His sensitivity to storytelling, history, and literature is everywhere evident when reporting on his own eyesight . . . His fine sensibility, lucid writing, and dignified treatment of his subject feel anything but indulgent. This book invites us all to rethink what it means to desire, to read, to be independent, to sit with uncertainty, and to assume a new identity.” —The Guardian “I’ll cut to the chase—this is the best book I’ve read this year and also one of the best books I’ve ever read in my life. No descriptor feels capacious enough: an intellectually rigorous memoir, a moving cultural history, a brilliant study of blindness, disability, and adaptation. My love and admiration for this book know no bounds, and I’m beyond excited for the new era in disability writing that its publication portends.” —Sophia M. Stewart, The Millions’ Most Anticipated Books of 2023 “Andrew Leland writes about his own gradual blindness using cultural histories and the politics of disability to upend what we assumed we knew. It’s one of the year’s best.” — The Chicago Tribune , “52 Books for Summer 2023” “Informative and engaging.” — The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “Leland . . . writes compellingly of his ever-shifting relationship to vision . . . The book that results is a provocative blend of memoir, reporting, and cultural commentary.” — The Nation “A fluid, thoughtful writer, Leland finds plenty of fascinating insights . . . The Country of the Blind is . . . full of riches.” — Laura Miller, Slate “A witty, thoughtful memoir.”