Literacy Theory in the Age of the Internet: by Todd W. Taylor and Irene Ward (Editors). Columbia University Press, New York, 1998, 200 pp. ISBN 0231113315 $17.50 (paperback)

In their introduction the editors claim that this is a book for writing instructors written by writing instructors. Although they do not mention this explicitly it is clear that they are assuming a USA context. Not only are all the contributors from universities in the United States but many chapters also refer to the contemporary situation of what they calìcomposition and rhetoric studies' in a way that is very specific to the USA. The editors continue, as editors of academic collections often do, to make a virtue of the diversity of styles and variety of methods found in the different chapters. They describe this as`polyvocal' and write that they prefer, `useful noise' tòsynthetic harmony'. However they do claim that there is some order to be found in this diversity. The book has three thematic sections, the first is vaguely defined but seems to deal with global theory and economic issues; the second section looks broadly at`the relationship between material reality and rhetoric' and the third looks at pedagogy. The aim of the collection is therefore presumably to contribute both to the theory of literacy on the internet and to the practice of writing instruction using the internet. The three part schema offered by the editors sounded a sensible way to approach this large area. I found the first chapter excellent in reminding us of the social and economic context of literacy and the internet which is too easily forgotten. The author linked the internet persuasively to what he called`the revolution of the rich' in the USA. However the chapter was introductory and programmatic leaving a need for more detailed exploration of these issues. I was disappointed to find that the other chapters in this section did not provide this and had no linking theme that I could discern. The second sectionìiteracy and the electronic body' had more coherence with three articles looking at the relationship between identity based on the physical body and identity on the internet. I found one of these chapters by Beth Kolko really useful as a sensible discussion of the issues backed by a survey of the literature. Her conclusion,