Surveys recent development on the interplay between solvable lattice models in statistical mechanics and representation theory of quantum affine algebras. Assumes no prior knowledge of lattice models and representation theory. Uses the spin 1/2 XXZ chain and the six-vertex model as examples, and discusses the Yang-Baxter equation, corner transfer matrices, vertex operators, and the Frenkel-Jing bosonization of the level 1 module. No index. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.