These two new volumes in the "Contemporary World Issues" series share the strengths of other series volumes in being engaging, concise, and well organized. They also follow the series' structure by providing an introduction/overview, a chronology, biographical sketches, statistics and graphs, a directory of organizations, and selected print, nonprint, and web resources. Among other highlights, Gilbert (economics, Hobart and William Smith Coll.) tracks population growth from Neolithic times to the present and offers long-term growth projections, while Stebbins, a librarian at Brandeis University with a special interest in work-family issues, provides landmark legal decisions. Far from spoon-feeding undergraduates, these titles challenge the student researcher to consider the international and historical scope of the two topic areas. Of particular value are the abstracts for the selected monographs in the resources section, which not only motivate student interest in the book described and the topic itself but will prove useful for collection development. In general, the series could be improved by the addition of recommendations for online databases to search for each topic, perhaps including the authorized subject headings for the topic. Paula R. Dempsey, DePaul Univ., Chicago
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. — This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.