Aliteracy: People Who Can Read but Won't, edited by Nick Thimmesch, addresses one of the critical issues of this decade. The decline of language skills in successive generations of high school students, the simplification of college textbooks, a diminished newspaper readership, the omnipresence of television-what effects will these have on our democratic way of life? Some see these trends as the loosened threads that will finally unravel the fabric of our society and move us closer to a world in which power will reside with a literate elite. Others point to contrary evidence-the near-eradication of illiteracy from the United States, a thriving magazine industry, the flood of new books, and an increased use of public libraries.