This is the only comprehensive and critical account, in a single volume, of the leukocytes. It cuts across scientific and clinical disciplines to provide a unified review of granulocytes, monocytes, and lymphocytes, both as individual cell types and as they form an integrated system of defense against the body's foreign invaders. Sections on each cell type discuss first normal and then abnormal aspects of morphogenesis and morphology, the kinetics of production, distribution, life span, metabolism and function. Specific disease states are reviewed in the context of pathophysiological mechanisms.

Readable, and beautifully illustrated with photomicrographs, electron micrographs, diagrams and drawings, this book will serve a broad audience of physicians and scientists as well as students seeking a basic grounding in the field. More than 6,000 references are cited; the reader will find a perspective on the historical development of leukocyte biology as well as a current summary of a rapidly changing field. Not only hematologists, but workers in the basic disciplines of immunology and cell biology, and in the clinical fields of oncology, genetics, infectious disease, surgery, and related areas, will turn to this book as the fundamental teaching and reference work on white cells.