The lack of cultural content, low interest level, and crowdedness of second language textbooks arise because every textbook represents a compromise: between the publisher's need to sell a book and the author's need to address specific pedagogical issues, and between the need to explain grammatical points fully and the need to explain them briefly. Although virtually all teachers rely on textbooks, most would admit that the one they selected was the least of evils. Attention to certain criteria will make the selection process more rewarding: (1) the characteristics of the student population, (2) the linguistic background and preparation of the teaching staff, and (3) the teaching environment. Textbooks represent the top of a pyramid whose base is economic and political reality, with the rationale for foreign language study and available methodologies representing intermediate steps. The evaluation of a text will take into account course goals and content (e.g., is the text too jargony? does it contain a variety of exercises?). The teacher will learn to defend to students both the text and his/her own somewhat different approach. Adapting materials in the book should be an effort to substitute similar but more appropriate material, rather than an addition onto existing material. (JB)