This volume of essays focuses on textbooks in developing nations of the world. Issues of concern are textbook supply in the schools, national policies and their relation to textbook supply and content, the role of national and international agencies in textbook publication and control, and the influence of textbooks on classroom practice. The central problems addressed are textbook availability and classrooms use, as well as textbook content. The book is divided into two parts with eleven chapters. Part 1, "The Policy Context," contains the essays: (1) "Textbooks and the Third World: An Overview" (Philip G. Altbach; Gail P. Kelly); (2) "Textbooks in Developing Countries: Economic and Pedagogical Choices" (Joseph P. Farrell; Stephen P. Heyneman); (3) "Textbooks in Third World Higher Education" (Philip G. Altbach; S. Gopinathan); (4) "The Politics of Textbook Selection and Control: The Case of Interwar Indochina and West Africa" (Gail P. Kelly); and (5) "The Origins of India's Textbook Culture" (Krishna Kumar). Part 2, "Content and Curriculum," includes: (1) "Gender and Textbooks: An African Case Study" (Karen L. Biraimah); (2) "The Quest for National Unity: Language Textbooks in Malaysia" (Hena Mukherjee; Khairiah Ahmed); (3) "Language and Texts in Africa" (Dennis Mbuyi); (4) "Language and the Content of School Texts: The Nigerian Experience" (Chuka Eze Okonkwo); (5) "Curriculum in Action: Mathematics in China's Elementary Schools" (Julia Kwong); and (6) "Textbooks in Revolutionary Iran" (M. Mobin Shorish). The volume concludes with an extensive bibliography. (EH)