The clinical sociology handbook /

Spanning the years 1931 (when Louis Wirth first used the term ``clinical sociology'') to 1981, most of this handbook is devoted to an annotated bibliography listing journal articles, books, book reviews, presentations, and unpublished manuscripts. The author has included an interesting historical overview of the field, with a substantive bibliography; information on the Clinical Sociology Association; a listing of professional organizations; and information on education and training. The bibliography is divided into 12 broad sections, such as ``Aging/Gerontology,'' ``Health and Illness,'' and ``Additional Areas,'' and is arranged alphabetically by author within each of the 12 subject areas. Each entry receives a number reflecting the chapter number and the alphabetical order. These numbers are used in the author index to locate information in the main body of the text. The only major problem with this book is the lack of a subject index. Of the 600 entries, 400 form the collection of clinical sociology publications of the Lauinger Library at Georgetown University. Fritz, a onetime president of the Clinical Sociology Association and a faculty member of Georgetown University, states in the Introduction that the annotations vary in length because entries were gathered by asking practitioners to write abstracts of their works. As a good tool for aspiring clinical sociologists, this work is ``a solid beginning.'' Suitable for upper-division undergraduates and beyond.-D.A. Kane, University of Nebraska at Omaha