In ABC: The Alphabetization of the Popular Mind philosopher and cultural analyst Ivan Illich and medieval scholar and literary critic Barry Sanders have produced an original, meticulous and provocative study of the advent, spread and present decline of literacy.



Their collaboration explores the impact of the alphabet on fundamental thought processes and attitudes, on memory, on political groupings and religious and cultural expectations. They also examine the present erosion of literacy in the new technological languages of ‘newspeak’ and point out how new attitudes to language are altering our world view; our sense of self and of community.

Ivan Illich

Barry Sanders

Barry Saferstein