The substantial rise in life expectancy and the related decline in morbidity (or sickness) are great triumphs of the past 200 years. This book tells the story of this dramatic improvement in the human condition, which is sometimes called the health transition. Although James Riley has done considerable research in the area of health history, the field is so vast that any book of this scope must be based predominantly on the studies of other scholars. He does an admirable job of distilling the research findings for a general audience.