In their preface, the editors note that there are many good immunology books, but events seem to have outrun their competition and thus, quite properly, justify yet another immunology text.
This book is divided into four sections. The first includes the fundamentals of immunochemistry and cellular immunology and is introduced by a concise, well-illustrated historical background prepared by Pierre Grabar. The second contains 13 chapters on immunobiology, beginning appropriately enough with phylogeny and ontogeny of the immune response and genetic regulation. Such topics as autoimmunity, transplantation and tumor immunology, immunity and infection, immunologic tolerance, the secretory immune system, and specific immunologic unresponsiveness are all covered well. As with any multiple-authored text, there is some redundancy, which does not constitute a serious defect. The third part is a short but comprehensive section on laboratory methods for detecting antigens, antibodies, and cellular immune function. The fourth section, almost half the book, is