Public Health and the State: Changing Views in Massachusetts, 1842-1936, by Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1972, 259 pp., $9.00

This book was written in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Massachusetts State Board of Health. It is a record of events in mid-l9th century Massachusetts which led to the establishment of the Board of Health and of the changes in structure and functions of the State health authority from 1869 to 1936. It is, however, much more than this. As the subtitle indicates, this is a history of views and opinions about public health, particularly conflicting views as to the nature and extent of the Commonwealth's public health responsibilities.