Several comprehensive works on addiction have appeared over the years, many in multivolume series. Most have relied on a group of authors to present material on various aspects of addiction. Most have claimed to provide current scientific knowledge and clinical information that would be useful for practitioners. Despite these noble objectives, however, most have been uneven in quality. Principles of Addiction Medicine is more accurate, more comprehensive, and more even in quality than most such works, with the possible exception of the exhaustive, multivolume, ongoing series Research Advances in Alcohol and Drug Problems, which is published by the Addiction Research Foundation in Toronto.

Many of the most outstanding clinicians and scientists in the field of addiction have contributed to this work. Most of the articles give complete presentations of differing theories and the research that supports them. In general, the book has a consistency that flows from basic research to clinical applications.

The work is divided into subsections that range from basic science and pharmacology through diagnosis and treatment to sections on the family and special populations. Although the basic science and pharmacology sections tend to be complete and current, they are also concise. The diagnostic and treatment sections are also complete and well documented. All of the important reliability and validity issues in the use of various diagnostic systems and standard tests are more than adequately discussed. Especially useful is the presentation of the traditional 28-day treatment model. This model—which is the primary treatment model in the United States and is used at varying degrees of sophistication almost religiously—is often not discussed in large professional overviews, although less commonly used behavioral, cognitive, or analytical approaches are often examined in great detail. Most of the material on Alcoholics Anonymous and the other twelve-step programs are excellent, including the understanding of the twelve-step programs' function in maintaining ongoing sobriety and the role of the treatment program as a bridge to the use of the twelve-step programs.

However, the work has several serious problems when it moves on to discuss the family and special populations. Unlike most of medicine, which strives to integrate clinical practice with the best available research, research on families is rarely integrated into family treatment. The section on the family in addiction typifies the chasm that often exists between solid research on families and the theory used in clinical practice. Most major research on the effects of alcoholism on the family and, more specifically, on the adult children of alcoholics is ignored in favor of poorly done research or mere opinion. Much of the material in the section on special populations is fine, but one concern does arise. A few of the articles raise issues about theoretical models, diagnosis, treatment, and the twelve-step programs that question the application of "white middle class" models to members of minority groups. Adequate data are not provided to substantiate these statements, which seem to be more political than scientific in intent.

The American Society of Addiction Medicine has put together an excellent work on current knowledge and clinical applications within addiction medicine. Anyone who is serious about the treatment of addiction will find this work a valuable asset. However, one must be careful in using the section on the family and, to a lesser degree, the section on special populations.