The author argues that modern notions of literacy can and should be informed by past successes in the field of literacy, but that there may be geographic and linguistic obstacles to knowing about them. Consequently, this book offers a view of the 1980 Cruzada Nacional de Alfabetización (CNA) or the National Literacy Crusade through the lens of a contemporary literacy professional in the United States. The goals of this book are to critically examine an important moment in the global history of literacy, celebrate the many successes of the crusade, analyze the transformative possibilities of such an endeavor, uncover the implications of the campaign for literacy today, and share an understanding of this historical event with an English-speaking audience. Practicing teachers, preservice teachers, teacher educators, and those interested in transforming education will read this book and engage in critical, collegial dialogue about what we do in schools, why we do what we do, and what might need to change in order to better meet the needs of our students, their teachers, and our democracy.

In July 1979, Nicaragua began a process of profound structural transformation to redistribute power and wealth in order to redress past societal inequities. This book critically examines the planning and implementation of one of the first programs of national transformation-the Nicaraguan National Literacy Crusade, an educational effort directly involving almost one-fourth of the country's population. International experts praised the program as an exemplary model for national development and unanimously chose the campaign to receive grand prize in literacy. A vivid combination of anecdote and analysis, Between Struggle and Hope is a study of policymaking and institution building within a revolutionary society. Written by an international adviser to the program, the book provides an insider's look at educational planning and political formation. A critique, it combines the human story of the struggle to create the literacy campaign with a detailed evaluation of program results, both positive and negative. Unique in the literature, it allows the reader to follow firsthand the behind-the-scenes development of an educational campaign designed as part of a national plan of structural transformation and to share the personal concerns, criticisms, and analysis of the program planners. Between Struggle and Hope offers a rare opportunity to examine the process of political change through education and to probe the internal dynamics of revolution.

In July 1979, Nicaragua began a process of profound structural transformation to redistribute power and wealth in order to redress past societal inequities. This book critically examines the planning and implementation of one of the first programs of national transformation--the Nicaraguan National Literacy Crusade, an educational effort directly involving almost one-fourth of the country's population. International experts praised the program as an exemplary model for national development and unanimously chose the campaign to receive grand prize in literacy. A vivid combination of anecdote and analysis, Between Struggle and Hope is a study of policymaking and institution building within a revolutionary society. Written by an international adviser to the program, the book provides an insider's look at educational planning and political formation. A critique, it combines the human story of the struggle to create the literacy campaign with a detailed evaluation of program results, both positive and negative. Unique in the literature, it allows the reader to follow firsthand the behind-the-scenes development of an educational campaign designed as part of a national plan of structural transformation and to share the personal concerns, criticisms, and analysis of the program planners. Between Struggle and Hope offers a rare opportunity to examine the process of political change through education and to probe the internal dynamics of revolution.

We came to the task of editing this book from different disciplines and back grounds but with a mutuality of interest in exploring the concept of literacy campaigns in historical and comparative perspective. One of us is a professor of comparative education who has participated in and written about literacy campaigns in Third World countries, notably Nicaragua; the other is a com parative social historian who has written on literacy campaigns in Western his tory. Both of us believed that literacy could only be understood in particular As Harvey Graff has noted, "to consider any of the ways in historical contexts. which literacy intersects 'with social, political, economic, cultural, or psychological life ... requires excursions into other records.") Thus, we have set out in this edited collection to explore some five hundred years of literacy campaigns in vastly different societies: Reformation Germany, early modern Sweden and Scotland, the nineteenth-century United States, nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Russia and the Soviet Union, pre Revolutionary and Revolutionary China, and a variety of Third World countries in the post-World War II period (Tanzania, Cuba, Nicaragua, and India). In addition, we have included studies of the UNESCO-sponsored Experimental World Literacy Program and recent adult literacy efforts in three industrialized Western countries (the United Kingdom, France, and the United States).

Arnove presents a glimpse of the Nicaraguan educational system during the first five years of the Sandinista revolution, July 1979-84. The . . . author provides an excellent bibliography concerning Latin American comparative education, and the book would be of educational value to both undergraduate and graduate students. Choice