The Origin and Evolution of Viruses is the most comprehensive and up-to-date treatment of virus genetics available today. Starting with pre-biological evolution in the primitive RNA world a billion years ago and coming right up to date with present concerns about HIV and hepatitis C, this book covers all aspects of virus genomes. The treatment of all the subjects is covered in depth and given the space needed - this is not a superficial review of a few virus families - just what one would have expected from editors as well respected as these. Although in places the book would have benefited from a little colour in the illustrations, and the mathematical treatment of some subjects may be off-putting to the uninitiated, this is required in a book which will undoubtedly become the definitive source on this subject in years to come.

Berkovitz and coworkers provide pictures, pictures, pictures of exquisite quality. There is no more successful method for teaching histology than through numerous sections coupled with a de-emphasis on description. This text is like having a microscope at your fingertips and pre-dental/medical and graduate students rave about the book. Given the embryological format, the macro and micro portions dovetail quite well. Some dissapointing picture quality of head and neck structures and dental gross anatomy photographs are too small to grasp occlusal morphology. The comparative mammalian dental anatomy section is nice. Missing only is exposure to forensic odontology as applied responsibility for both clinician and academician to explore.

Although more updated information has been added to the previous edition, much of the COMPARATIVE PART have been removed. This is disappointing since the chapter was the main reason I bought the book. I also found that the quality of photographs is inferior to the previous edition.

I found this text useful as a reference text as a dental educator. It is comprehensive and the color histological references are very clearly presented. The photographs of the teeth, as well as the gross anatomical sections, seem slightly out of focus in this edition. Information is presented with references that are further useful and up to date, especially when considering research in the hard dental and neural tissues. I refer to it constantly in my studies.

In 1866 Abraham Lincoln was far from the icon of American leadership and democracy that he later became, but he was already in the process of becoming. That was in no small measure because of the work of Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819-1881), whose "Life of Abraham Lincoln" was the first full-scale post-assassination biography of Lincoln and a pathmarker that fundamentally shaped the contours of Lincolnia. Published less than a year after Lincoln's death, Holland told the now well-worn stories of young Lincoln earning his first silver dollar as a rail-splitter, about his repayment for a ruined book, about the millhorse's kick to his head, about his wrestling match with Jack Armstrong, and about the fabled Lincoln sense of humor and wit. Always, Holland wrote in an accessible, homey manner about Lincoln the man and the patriot, about Lincoln the husband and father, and about Lincoln the moral leader of a nation at war.

For example, Holland asserted repeatedly in this biography that Lincoln had been an opponent of slavery his entire life and had always planned for emancipation. A debatable contention at best, but one that certainly hearkened back to the moral vision expressed in the Declaration of Independence penned nearly a century earlier. The assertion certainly fixed the image of the man as a champion of the highest ideals of the republic. Also debatable, and certainly it was roundly attacked at the time by several of Lincoln's associates, was Holland's assertion that Lincoln was the very model of a Christian leader. Such longtime associates as William Herndon condemned Holland's declaration of Lincoln's religious ideals as bogus.

Holland based his biography on relatively extensive interviews with those who knew Lincoln and on the written materials then readily available. Accordingly, there is a depth of coverage not present in many of the other early Lincoln biographies. At the same time, Holland was essentially Lincoln's Parson Weems, making a myth of the fallen leader second to only that accorded George Washington. As Allen C. Guelzo notes in an excellent introduction to the volume, Holland engaged in oversentimentality, drawing overt morals from the life and career of Lincoln. Holland's Lincoln, as Guelzo states, "was unapologetically the champion of 'strength and moderation' and the opposition, whether from John Charles Frémont or Clement Vallandigham, was 'irresponsible' or 'treasonable'" (pp. viii-ix). Because of these weaknesses, most modern Lincoln scholars have dismissed Holland's biography without serious consideration.

As a study in the process of myth-making, however, this book is important. Its availability in this reprint addition may provide grist for future studies. As such it is a welcome addition to historical literature.