This book provides a comprehensive review of the health of Native Americans in Canada and the United States. Historical trends in population and health status from pre-European contact to the present are examined in three groups of diseases: infectious diseases, chronic diseases, and injuries. The author discusses the etiology and pathogenesis of different diseases in each group, and weighs genetic and environmental risk factors. He also compares the incidence of disease among Native Americans and non-Native Americans, examines variations among Native Americans belonging to different geographical, cultural and linguistic groups, and reviews control and prevention strategies. On a broader level, the author's purpose is to integrate the approaches of anthropology and epidemiology in order to show the interaction of biology and culture on disease causation, distribution, and control. Attention to both perspectives offers a promising approach to understanding and improving the health status of Native Americans.

T. Kue Young is the TransCanada Chair in Aboriginal Health in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.

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"... filling a need for up-to-date comprehensive information in this important socio-medical field. This books is a masterpiece that contains an immense amount of information. It is superbly organized, presenting after the discussion of the extent of the problems, ideas and etiology for prevention and control strategies in the crowning chapter on biocultural epidemiology." Otto Schaefer, M.D.- Annals RCPSC (vol. 28, no.6, Sept. 1995)

"This book is a valuable reference for researchers and health professionals working with Native communities."--Canadian Journal of Public Health

"An excellent synopsis of the health status of Native Americans in the United States and Canada....Excellent features include explicit and repeated references to the heterogeneity of health status among Native Americans in various regions. The tone is respectful of the strength and resiliency of Native communities in the face of enormous adversity. The section defining research 'on the people, for the people, and by the people' should be studied by anyone...considering the implementation of a research project involving Native Americans....Without peer as an introduction to the health problems of the indigenous peoples of North America....Physicians Physicians and public health professionals serving Native American populations, even those with years of experience, will have much to learn from the book. I certainly did."--Jonathan R. Sugarman, MD, MPH, in Journal of the American Medical Association

"This book is a valuable reference for researchers and health professionals working with Native communities." Canadian Journal of Public Health vol.86, no.3, May/June 1995

"This book is a masterpiece that contains an immense amount of information. It is superbly organized, presenting, after the discussion of the extent of the problems, ideas and etiology for prevention and control strategies in the crowning chapter on biocultural epidemiology.--Annals of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada

"I must commend Young for synthesizing into a manageable text an expansive array of statistical data on native health."--Cathleen E. Willging, Medical Anthropology Quarterly