Arthritis and Allied Conditions: A Textbook of Rheumatology

This is the 12th edition of the textbook of rheumatology first published in 1940. Like its predecessors, it presents voluminous and authoritative material on all facets of rheumatic diseases, from paleopathology to molecular biology to clinical features and treatment. The 143 contributors represent many of the top academic rheumatology divisions and related fields in the United States and abroad. It is impractical to read tomes like this from cover to cover. Instead, I tried to put the textbook through its paces by reading the sections that were pertinent to my clinical practice over a four-week period. Thus, while I did not see every condition described in the book, I found that I covered a surprising amount of it, either directly in my own patients, or during teaching sessions with fellows, house staff, and students, and in discussions with colleagues. My bias is that a subspecialty textbook should have two purposes: