This first of four volumes on the history of compulsory education among the nations of Europe and the Western hemisphere deals with historical antecedents and early development. Of the 29 total articles, 18 are in English and 2 have English summaries. Many selections include bibliographies. Titles and authors are as follows: "The Political Institutionalization of Compulsory Education" (Francisco O. Ramirez and John Boli); "L'Obbligo Scolastico e la Scuola di Base Nello Scritto d'un Pedagogista Cileno" (Alessandro Leonarduzzi); "Beginnings of Compulsory Education in the Republic of Columbia" (O. Negrin Fajardo and D. Soto Arango); "L'Obligation Educative en France des Origines a Nos Jours" (Paul Gerbod); "L'Introduction de l'Obligation Scolaire dans l'Allemagne Protestante du XVIe au XVIIIe Siecle" (Jean-Luc Le Cam); "Karl August Zeller (1774-1846). Aide-Camps pour la Prusse, Pays en Voie de Developpement en Matiere d'Education Nationale, dans le Contexte du Decalage Sud-Nord des Pays Germanophones" (Rudolf Koschnitzke); "The Historical Development of Compulsory Schooling in Germany" (Gabriele Weigand); "The History of Compulsory Education in Germany" (Karl-Heinz Guenther and Gert Geissler); "The Advent of Universal Compulsory Elementary Education in England and Wales" (D. K. Jones); "Gradual Regulation of Schooling Age and School Attendance in Hungary since 1777 up to Now" (Otto Vag); "The Debate about the Introduction of Compulsory Elementary Education of 1848 in Hungary" (Sandor Komlosi); "Compulsory Education in the Twenty Years after Italian Unification (1860-1880)" (Enzo Catarsi); "Chiesa e Obbligo Scolastico Nell'Italia Post-Unitaria (1860-1900)" (Carmela Covato); "Compulsory Education in The Netherlands" (J. F. A. Braster and N. L. Dodde); "School and Literacy. Introduction of the Elementary School in Norway in the 1730's and 1740's" (Knut Tveit); "The Idea of Unbroken Primary School in Norway" (Knut Jordheim); "L'Introduction de l'Obligation Scolaire dans la Pologne, la Prusse et l'Autriche" (Marianna Krupa); "Legal Foundation and Accomplishment of Compulsory Education in Poland in 1918-1939" (Jozef Zerko and Romuald Grzybowski); "L'Introduction et la Prolongation de la Scolarite Obligatoire au Portugal" (Joaquim Ferreira Gomes); "L'Enseignement Obligatoire dans les Constitutions Espagnoles due XIXe Siecle" (Federico Gomez Rodriguez de Castro); "Le Chemin Vers l'Enseignement Obligatoire en Espagne Avant 1857" (Anastasio Martinez Navarro); "Apport des Municipalites Constitutionnelles a l'Introduction de l'Enseignement Obligatoire en Espagne" (Julio Ruiz Berrio); "Compulsory Education in the Swiss Canton of Zurich from 1798 to 1859" (Fritz-Peter Hager); "La Reproclamation de l'Instruction Obligatoire, a Geneve, au XIXe Siecle: Du Refus de 1842 a l'Acceptation de 1872" (Charles Magnin); "Towards Compulsory Education: The School Revival Movement in the United States" (Jurgen Herbst); "The Roots of Compulsory Education in America" (L. Glenn Smith); "Compulsory Education in Utopia: Owen and Neef" (Dieter Jedan); "Compulsory Education in the Waldorf Schools in America" (Joseph A. Baust); and "Compulsory Education in Chicago" (Joan K. Smith). (CJH)