Advocating the literacy campaign as the most appropriate and adequate means for dealing with large-scale illiteracy, this book presents eight case studies of national campaigns as examples and illustrations of this approach. The book notes that mass literacy campaigns are not the exclusive province of any particular ideology, but are possible within any society that desires them. The book is addressed to literacy workers, educational administrators, development planners, policy-makers, and politicians in countries disadvantaged by high rates of illiteracy as well as in societies where universal adult literacy seems within reach. Chapters in the book are: (1) Background and Context; (2) Nature, Objectives, and Methodology; (3) Why Literacy? Why Can't Literacy Wait? Why Are Mass Literacy Campaigns Necessary? Issues for the 1980s; (4) The Literacy Campaign in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, 1919-39; (5) The Mass Literacy Campaign in the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, 1945-77; (6) The Anti-Illiteracy Campaigns in the People's Republic of China: From the 1950s to the 1980s; (7) The Cuban Mass Literacy Campaign, 1961; (8) The Mass Literacy Movement in Burma: From the 1960s into the 1980s; (9) The Brazilian Literacy Movement from 1967 to 1980; (10) The Tanzanian Mass Literacy Campaign, 1971-81; (11) Literacy in the Context of a Rural Development Campaign: The Somali Experience of 1973-75; (12) Planning, Implementing and Evaluating Literacy Campaigns: A Memorandum to Decision-Makers; and (13) Conclusions. An appendix presents the Udaipur Declaration on International Strategy for Literacy Promotion. (RS)