Reference Reviews

Reference for Students

Public Health. Edited by Adriane Ruggiero. Detroit, Mich.: Greenhaven Press Thomson Gale, 2007. 1 vol. 231 p. $36.20. ISBN 10: 0-7377-3846-9; 13: 0-7377-3846-4.

While students recognize that childhood obesity is an issue today, they may find it tame compared to problems for public health over time. In the first chapter, "The Origins of Public Health," they will read a published essay on projects to provide sanitation and clean water in ancient Rome, the public health system in Medieval Europe, the Plague in the 1300s, cholera in the late 1800s and the way our colonies dealt with public health issues. Chap. 2 covers "Public Health in the United States through Mid-Twentieth Century, and Chap. 3, "Public Health in the United States, Mid-Twentieth Century to the Present," covers the polio vaccine and the proposed vaccination of young girls against the Human Papillomavirus. The final chapter, "Global Public Health Challenges for the Future," addresses caring for the wounded war veterans and global warming. Appendixes have a 4-page chronology, two pages of "Organizations to Contact," and a 3-page bibliography of books, periodicals, and Web sites.