"Alan Block taught in the public schools for seventeen years, took a doctorate in English, and over the past several years has studied exhaustively the file of reading. These qualifications and accomplishments are visible in Occupied Reading. It is a careful, comprehensive, stunning piece of work. The field of reading may never be the same." -- William F. Pinar, Department of Curriculum and Instruction Louisiana State University "Block's study ties the construction of meaning to the constitution of self and society. This is a far-ranging and scholarly study of theories of reading." -- Madeleine R. Grumet, Dean School of Education, Brooklyn College, City University of New York "Combining postmodern critiques with whole language hopes, Alan Block routs the psychologists and pedagogues who have occupied American reading instruction for nearly a century and points out a way in which we can come to know ourselves and the world through reading." -- Patrick Shannon, Language and Literacy Education, Penn State University
Contents *Introduction *Occupied Reading *Pragmatism, Populism and Whole Language *A Psychology of Reading-Foundation *A Psychology of Reading-Toward an Ecological Theory *Three Readers Reading: A Pedagogy *Bibliography *Index