French Deaf culture is regarded as a major influence on the formation of other Deaf cultures around the world, notably American Deaf culture. In Elements of French Deaf Heritage, Ulf Hedberg and Harlan Lane document the development of Deaf culture in France by way of Deaf schools, Deaf associations, private and professional networks, publishing, and the arts. This highly visual work captures these forces from the late 18th century through the end of the 19th century, when cultural formation began to shift to cultural maintenance. Encyclopedic in scope, this examination of the evolution of Deaf ethnicity in France aims to disseminate an extensive amount of archival information, now available for the first time in the English language.

Ulf Hedberg is the former director of the Gallaudet University Library Deaf Collections and Archives. He is a co-author of The People of the Eye: Deaf Ethnicity and Ancestry.

Harlan Lane is University Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology at Northeastern University. He is a MacArthur Fellow and the recipient of numerous awards and prizes. His published works include When the Mind Hears: A History of the Deaf, The Mask of Benevolence: Disabling the Deaf Community, and The People of the Eye: Deaf Ethnicity and Ancestry.

— J. F. Andrews, CHOICE Reviews