When a book on community-based research opens with comments about Imhotep, Hippocrates, and Aesculapius, it certainly catches the reader's attention. Such is the case with Community-Based Health Research: Issues and Methods, a new book edited by Daniel S. Blumenthal and Ralph J. DiClemente.

Community-Based Health Research: Issues and Methods is an important text for future public health researchers. As the authors note, public health prevention has moved from treating infectious diseases to preventing chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. This evolution argues that our approaches must change as well. The Blumenthal and DiClemente volume provides 3 key perspectives on how to conduct community-based health research and its application to public health.

First, the text successfully places community-based health research on equal standing with clinical, basic science, and health services research as the "fourth" estate. The authors make a strong and logical argument that community-based health research is essential for addressing the new public health problems posed by chronic diseases. As they point out, community-based health research "guides public health workers who are engaged in improving the health of populations just as traditional clinical research guides the actions of clinicians in caring for individual patients."