Management of Esophageal Disease

This weighty monograph is a delightful throwback in textbook style to the first half of this century. The two confident, authoritarian, and experienced British and American surgeon-authors have produced a book in their own personal images. Not for them to rely on others in various supporting disciplines to write chapters on a subject in which they are the experts. As a result, what may be lost in scientific depth is compensated for by the authors' judgment in culling from the literature what they deem important for a fellow surgeon to know. Having thus weighed the evidence, Skinner and Belsey boldly state their conclusions based on these data.

Few readers will agree with all of the positive judgments made by these authors, but there will be no doubt where the authors stand. For example, they have but thinly veiled disdain for stapled anastomosis, transhiatal resection of the esophagus, or antireflux operations