The New Social Worker Vol. 20, No. 4, Fall 2013 | Page 36

theless, the quality of the other content
outweighs this gap.

As a whole, Jones and Kaltenbach’s
book is a worthy contribution to the
literature on substance abuse. Novice
social workers will find the text to be a
helpful tool for educating themselves
about this important issue. Experienced
social workers with specialized knowledge
about pregnant women with substance
use issues will find it to be a solid resource
to provide to their social work students in
field placement. Additionally, social work
educators will find the text to be a useful
primary text, especially in courses dealing
with substance use issues in pregnancy.

Reviewed by Trevor G. Gates, Ph.D., LCSW,
Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work,
College at Brockport, State University of New
York.
The Handbook for Public Health Social Work,
edited by Robert Keefe and Elaine T. Jurkowski,
Social Work Section of the American Public
Health Association, Springer, New York, 2013,
408 pages, $65 (list price).

The history and development of The
Handbook for Public Health Social Work is
consistent with the value structure embedded within social work practice. The
concept for this edited volume emerged
during a business meeting of the Social
Work Section of the American Public
Health Association. Members of the section concluded that there was a need for
a textbook addressing themes for public
health social work. The group decided
to develop the book on a pro bono basis.
Robert H. Keefe and Elaine T. Jurkowski
must be applauded for their efforts to coordinate the work of 23 different authors.
None of the authors or the two editors was
financially compensated for their work.
In today’s economy, such altruism is rare.
Any royalties from the work automatically
transfer as a donation to the American
Public Health Association.

The evaluation criteria for edited
volumes are different when compared to
evaluating a non-edited book. Three issues
can be addressed. These include cost,
consistency, and the index.

First, as a professor who is extremely
sensitive to the cost of textbooks, I was
astounded to discover at the time of this
writing that the cost of this volume ranges
from $37.04 to $57.99. In assessing the
quality and the caliber of the authors, I
was expecting the price to be at least $100.

34

The New Social Worker

The pro bono work of the editors and
authors in coordination with the Springer
press must be considered a great expression of altruism. Students who purchase
this fine book are getting a great deal.
Students will not find a higher quality text
for the price.

Second, one major problem of most
edited books is inconsistency in the quality
of writing. After all, each chapter is written
by a different person. Robert H. Keefe
and Elaine T. Jurkowski accomplished a
Herculean task. Anyone who has edited
a book knows that coordinating consistent quality is not just an editing task, but
also a political one. This type of editing is
extremely time-consuming and a delicate
enterprise. Students are getting a consistently written text with classroom exercises
and Internet resources at the end of each
chapter. To test the comprehensiveness
of the book, I searched the Internet to
uncover the burning issues facing public
health social workers. I couldn’t find any
stone left unturned.

Last, unlike non-edited books, edited
books are often NOT read from beginning to end. Researchers or students who
are in the midst of completing a review of
literature will be interested in specific sections. A key factor in assessing the quality
of an edited book is the index. I tested the
index in various ways and found it to be
superior to those of most edited books I
have used and reviewed. Again, the editors ???????????????????($)Q???!???????????A?????!?????M?????)]???????????????????????????????%?)?????????????????????????????????)??????$???????????????????????????)?????????????%????????????????????????)????????????$???????????????????)???????????????????????????????)???????????????????($)I?????????M??????4??5??????A?????M?????)?????)?????????M??????]???Y???????)????)Q???5????9???????? ???????????????)]?????????????????)???
??M???????)-??????????]?????????\??)??????%%$?(??
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