Korea: A Geomedical Monograph of the Republic of Korea. Chin Thack Soh. With Cartographical Contribu- tions of E. Dege. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer Verlag, 1980. Pp. xv + 146. Cloch DM 98 (approx. $57.90 US). Reviewed by Helga Velimirouic, PhD Klampenborg, Denmark This book isthe sixth volume of the Geomedical Mono: graph Series, issued by the Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, and edited by H. J. Jusatz, head of the Geo- medical Research Center of that Institute. In the present work, C. T. Soh, a world-renowned Korean-born scientist and professor of parasitology and director of the Yonsei School ‘of Tropical Medicine, has compiled detailed information in the medical field, and in many other fields relevant to public health in Korea. In his foreword, the editor states that “this wealth of scientific data on Korea has to our knowledge never before been collected in such scope.” The ‘extensive lst of topics testifies to this statement. The book has four parts, each with a number of chapters. Part A, more than an introduction, brings a comprehensive description of the “Land and Its People,” with valuable details on history, geography, climate, flora and fauna, population, and lifeways. The second part (B), “Health Facilities, the Health Profesions and Public Health Ser- vices," speaks to public health workers as well as to an- thropologists. A short summary of the history of Korean ‘medicine is followed by a detailed lst of current health prac- joners and institutions which comprise the Korean health system, including those in the “traditional” or “folk” sector. In the third part of the book (part C, of particular interest to the medical profession), a large number of diseases, divided into 18 categories, are described. The more prevalent and important are accompanied by detailed data relating them to the ecology and to epidemiological characteristics or, as in the case of tuberculosis, tothe socioeconomic loss brought about by the disease. Part D deals with a number of factors which affect the health of the people—eg.. cultural determinants, shamanism, the unequal distribution of health personnel, environmental sanitation, contact with animals, and nutrition. ‘The value of this book is not only founded in the author's “encyclopedic” knowledge of Korean medical pathology. but also in the importance he gives to the interrelationship between health, illness, and culture. These factors were ‘usually disregarded in geomedical books, leaving the overall picture of the health situation of a given country in: complete. Some of the more idealistic or less traveled an: thropologists might be surprised to read such phrases as “Oriental herb medicine has litte place in a modern health care program, and it must be replaced by modern medical care. ..," when today itis almost fashionable to believe that it brings salvation. He might equally be surprised to find that the author occasionally uses the simplified and general term “superstition,” particularly in connection with shamanism. It should remind us that frequently “tradi tional” medicine is not regarded with too much trust by medical professionals and decision makers in the Third World, who were themselves treated (at least as children) by traditional practitioners, who have lived with it throughout their lives, and who know it intimately and not only as aL tourists or new converts. This is the case particularly in those countries who have made enormous progress in modernizing their health services, who have gone through rapid economic changes, and who have created training and teaching institutions consistent with the medical science of the 20th century. The enthusiastic welcome with which traditional medicine has been accepted as a valid study field bby medical anthropologists, this reviewer included, does not mean ¢o ipso that it is totally accepted or generally aj plicable today. It is understandable that the scient brought up in Western medicine as well asthe health worker experienced in the more traditional practices of his own countrymen, hope that “one way to cure this kind of social pathology is to raise the educational standard of the people and resoive the problems of social insecurity." Besides being a source of information not easily come by, this book is eminently readable, due to the field experience of the author and resulting personal involvement in the well- being of his countrymen. Attention of the reader should also be drawn to the excellent cartographical material con: tributed by E. Dege. Health, Hines, and Medicine: A Reader in Medical Sociology. Gary L. Albrecht and Paul C. Higgins, eds Chicago: Rand McNally College Pub. Co., 1979. Pp. x + 504. $12.50 (paper) Reviewed by K. 4. Hasan, PhD, MPH Anthropology, Indiana State University In organizing this reader and selecting articles and pub: lished research reports for inclusion, the editors set for themselves four major objectives: introduce the field of ‘medical sociology; show the relevance of sociology in the field of health; present an integrated perspective of medical ‘material; and present in-depth studies, ordinarily not found in textbooks. By and large, they succeeded in achieving these objectives. In the Preface to the reader, the editors use the terms “health” and “medical material”; and in part one (entitled “Social and Cultural Dimensions of Medical Behavior") they refer to "medical behavior.” In neither instance, however, do they make any attempt at defining these terms and fields of specialization, thus only adding to the confusion that already exists in the minds of many educated laymen regarding the differences between medicine and public health, Although interrelated in many ways, medicine and public health are not the same. This distinction is very im portant in clarifying concepts and research tools, and for the fact that there are many kinds of medical sociologists and medical anthropologists, just as there are many branches of medical science. It is also important to show that public health basically emphasizes teamwork in ‘preventing disease and combating health problems of essen: tially larger social and political units (such as a local com munity, state or nation), or a particular class of people. Clinical medicine, on the other hand, essentially deals with the problems of disease and abnormality at the individual Tevel and emphasizes treatment. ‘The confusion connected with the indiscriminate use of the terms “medicine” and “health” is further exemplified bythe editors of this reader themselves who claim to have used three general sociological themes in organizing the book: (1) The ways in which medical problems are caused, distributed, diagnosed, treated and interpreted; (2) The continuing fight for control of medical work by the medical profession; and (8) The physical, social, politcal, and ‘economic influences that shape medical practice” (emphasis added). Nowhere do they mention public health, nursing and other allied health professions as integral parts of the theme of medical sociology, although a number of articles and research reports in this reader fall within the realms of these specialities. In fact, part two of this reader includes several excellent articles dealing with "Demography of Health and Ilness.” Prominent among these are the articles by Omran (“Changing Patterns of Health and Disease Dur. ing the Process of National Development”), House (“Occu: ational Stress and Coronary Heart Disease: A Review and ‘Theoretical Integration"), and Kohn ("Class, Family, and Schizophrenia: A Reformulation”). ‘The reader contains a well-written introduction by senior editor Albrecht. The concluding article on the future of ‘medicine was written by junior editor Higgins. In. between the introduction and the conclusion, the reader has been divided into five parts, In addition to the first and second parts mentioned above, part three (entitled "Social Psychol- ogy of Tliness and its Management”) includes ten articles dealing with a number of sociological concepts, such as “sick role,” “deviance and labelling process,” “doctor-patient communication,” and “moral evaluation of the patient.” These articles provide valuable reading, demonstrating the usefulness of social science concepts in the utilization of ‘medical and health services. art four of the reader includes four articles on the sub: ject of "Medical Personnel: Conflicting Perspectives.” These articles range from conflicting “Perspectives in the Hospital” to “Women in Health Care.” Part five, entitled “Organi zation and Delivery of Health Gare,” includes six articles, snd encompasses such popular subjects as “The U.S. Health Care System" (Longest) to “The Politics of Health Care.” covering such controversial issues as “The Necessity and Control of Hospitalization” (Roth), “Medical Malpractice’ (Rabsamen), and "Health and the Corporate Society’ (Navarro), ‘The reader achieves what its editors sought to do: it essen- tially represents sociological perspectives on medical and health care. None of the contributors is an anthropologist; ‘most of the chosen asticles were written either by sociologists for medical persons. As such, the reader is an excellent resource for students of medical sociology, though its utility to medical anthropologists is somewhat more limited. Evolutionary Biology and Human Social Behavior: An Anthropological Perspective. Napoleon A. Chagnon and William Irons, eds. North Scituate, MA: Duxbury Press 1979. Pp. xvi + 623. $15.95 (cloth) Reviewed by Robert A. Rubinstein, PhD Public Health, U of Illinois Med Ctr, Chicago ‘The single mose significant deficiency in discussions of the applicability of sociobiological theory to the understanding 2 of human social behavior isthe lack of data bearing directly upon these discussions, This book, which sets out to begin to correct this situation, contains 22 primarily empirical papers. Most are revisions of presentations prepared for two symposia at the 1976 meeting of the American Anthropolog- ical Association. These symposia were organized in conjune- tion with two others dealing mainly with theoretical issues, and a theoretically oriented companion volume is promised. This is an interesting and challenging volume, and many of the data presented in it should be important in future discussions of sociobiology. Judgments of the overall ade- quacy of the book will vary according to the use to which it is to be put. The fairly high technical level and acceptance without discussion of some arguable working evolutionary biological assumptions make it likely to be a useful sup- plementary text in advanced graduate courses where it can be used to stimulate critical discussion, Likewise, research- crs with serious interests in biosocial anthropology will find this an engaging and worthwhile book, It is not, however, to be recommended for introductory classes or to colleagues who are interested in an evenhanded introduction to sociobiology, but who lack wider experience in the field, This is so because it often fails to note that posi tions it takes vis-a-vis important but controversial views in evolutionary biology are debatable or because it asserts that some of these still active issues have been resolved. Only three such issues, the level of selection controversy, the appropriateness of optimality models in evolutionary theory, and the nature and definition of human altruism, will be noted here. In the introduction to the volume (Natural Selection, Adaptation and Human Social Behavior") and later in various section introductions, Irons asserts that evolutionary biologists are now reasonably united in considering group selection as an insignificant force in evolutionary change. In fact, despite a remarkable increase in the popularity of individual selection models in the mid-1970s, the level of selection controversy in evolu: tionary biology has never been resolved. And, particularly due to the work of Wade and Wimsatt on the nature of the assumptions used in constructing models of group and in- ividual selection, this debate remains important, lively, and unresolved. ‘Further, some chapters in this book (especially, "Kinship Categories as Natural Categories” by Robin Fox) present data and argue for group telection as an important process in human evolution The general task that this volume engages is the explana. tion of complex structure and process in human social behavior. For the most part it is assumed that these are adaptive, and models of their evolution are proposed. This approach generally conforms to that characterizing op- ‘imality modeling. Although several authors note that this is the nature of their task, they do not also note that the ade- quacy of this sort of approach is itself argued in the evolu tionary biological literature. Beatty’s work in the founda tions of model building in evolutionary biology is especially useful in that discussion, Further, the positive heuristic of the approach necessarily carries with it the negative bias against seeing complex, adaptive functions as being of relatively recent development, overlain on older structures. ‘The occurrence of altruistic behavior in human popula- tions is taken as particularly telling for the sociobiological