A comprehensive overview of important contemporary issues in the field of reading research from the mid 1980s to mid 1990s, this well-received volume offers readers an examination of literacy through a variety of lenses--some permitting microscopic views and others panoramic views. A veritable "who's who" of specialists in the field, chapter authors cover current methodology, as well as cumulative research-based knowledge. Because it deals with society and literacy, the first section provides the broadest possible view of literacy. The second section defines the range of activities culturally determined to be a part of the enterprise known as literacy. The third focuses on the processes that individuals engage in when they perform the act of reading. The fourth section visits the environment in which the knowledge that comprises literacy is passed on from one generation to the next. The last section, an epilogue to the whole enterprise of reading research, provides apt philosophical reflection.