Preventive and Community Medicine.

It is uncertain whether the plethora of new books and new editions on preventive medicine results from recent statements of public policy, interest from health professionals, or competitive marketing by publishers. It is sufficient to note that a new edition of this book has appeared in 1981. Fourteen years is a long time gap for a major textbook in a rapidly evolving field like preventive medicine. The early classic (1967) has now been updated by the original editors without an increase in pages. Eighteen of the original 39 contributors have returned to join 22 new contributors for a modern, topically selective overview of the field. The book follows the earlier design with a section on Methods in Preventive and Community Medicine, a large section on Disease Etiology and Prevention, a shorter section on Prevention in Practice, and a critically important section on Services and Health Legislation, which have changed so substantially since the mid-1960s. By judicious editing and chapter assignments, new content in critical areas such as noso¬ comial infection and disease screen¬ ing have displaced chapters on genetics, human development, and geriatrics. The health services section is the most difficult to keep current, and the changing legislation has made parts of it already into a histor¬ ical collection. Preventive and Community Medi¬ cine is intended as a textbook for medical students and a reference for residents in preventive medicine. The four sections are in logical sequence, and each is self-contained and could