Customer Reviews

Illiterate America (Plume)

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Jonathan Kozol's "Illiterate America" is a shocking book that will most likely become a reference in your personal library. He doesn't just give a one-sided view about the typical illiterate person. Kozol writes about different types of illiterate and functional/semi-literate people. Many of the stereotypes that the public holds of illiterate people and of illiteracy get knocked down. Kozol tells us the truth through many statistics and details. If you don't know anything about the problem of illiteracy, then I urge you to read this book. It's not a problem that will go away, and Kozol tells us straight off that America is slacking. Illiteracy will only cause more damage to the family, the community, the workplace, and the nation. "Illiterate America" has so many scary details that you will think twice about the public educational systems, the mentality of disgruntled military personnel (trust me on this one), and the direction where America is heading. At times, the text can be somewhat difficult to grasp, but Kozol has an important message that needs to be heard.

This is a must read. Although the numbers are outdated, illiteracy is not. Illiteracy is a problem today, just like it was a problem them. We need to be more aware.

Kozol writes about a serious social problem that affects our country today. He does bring it to our attention in a to the point way, but at the same time he also loses the reader. The queston is: Who is Kozol trying to relate this message to? We all know that Kozol is an educated person and his use of language shows it. His use of words makes this a difficult book to read if you don't have a dictionary near by. If he is trying to reach out and have the common person stand up to illiteracy, he loses them with his language. Only a very educated, literate person will understand what is being written. This is the main weakness of this work

The author presents a fair amount of useful information in this book, including excerpts from case histories that make fascinating reading, such as the infamous story of the lady who spent all her grocery money on a huge can of Crisco because she was illiterate and thought that the can contained a chicken (there was a roasted chicken on the label). These same stories have been cited and portrayed elsewhere in books and movies, demonstrating their influence, and I presume this book is their primary source, since I had never encountered them previously, although I've never been able to confirm this. Beyond this, however, the book is quite boring. Kozol has a transparently obvious agenda, he writes in an incredibly verbose way that leads one to believe that he was paid by the syllable, and his style is intended more to shock and tug at the heartstrings than to encourage objective contemplation. If you don't mind a book that somehow manages to tie illiteracy to the alleged dangers of nuclear power plants, the occasional but interesting tidbits of fact make the book worth reading (barely).

Kozol gives the reader an overview of the problem of illiteracy in our country. Yet, he gives the information in a way that is not tangible to all readers. Kozol being an educated man writes the book in the way he thinks and comprehens the material. A way many individuals might not capture. In order to have illiteracy be known in our country Kozol should have displayed it in the way many people are able to understand. He would have caputured a bigger audience.

Although I feel Kozol should have written the book with the audience in mind he does give the reader startling facts. Facts that we are able to understand. Facts such as , illiteracy will just not go away by itself, and how damaging it is and has been in our workplace, family and society. He raises awareness that makes the educated reader want to find a way to participate in conquering this never ending battle.

We had to read this book for our critical reading writing and research class. I found it very redundant and repetative. I can see his point that something needs to be done about illiteracy, but after about 2 chapters hes saying the same thing over and over again. Also, the statistics drove me nuts. But I learned quite a bit. Get this book if you are interested in this subject. If you have to read it for a class, try not to fall asleep.

i read this book for an english class i am taking at skyline college in san bruno california, i found the book very informative on the topic of illiteracy, the author has a genuine concern for the illiterate population in america, he is educated on the topic and pontential solutions. But the text seemed rather difficult to understand and the messages that he is trying to say. his choice of words are sometimes confusing, it made reading the book very tiring and chore like. but, overall, for the audience i think he was trying to reach, and the information he wanted to share, the book did its job