The authors’ goal in this two-volume encyclopedia is to provide a “cutting edge examination of major issues in consumer affairs blended with topics in human services.” (xix). The title explains the coverage as an attempt to cover government agencies and consumer rights and to provide safety and purchasing tips for consumer protection. The encyclopedia focuses on the United States. The intended audiences are high school, public, college, and university libraries as well as social workers and professionals in consumer affairs.

The two volumes, 986 pages in all, have 224 entries organized alphabetically from “Activism” to the “World Trade Organization.” Volume 1 includes a list of the entries, puts the entries into eight related topics, and, after the preface, includes a twelve-page history of the consumer movement. Before the entries begin, there is a short one-page government chart as well as a very useful list of presidents and their important policies related to consumers. The entries include fifty-five government agencies, fifty-two pieces of legislation, ten movements, twenty-three organizations, sixteen people, and thirty-eight safeguards. The entries range from one to thirteen pages, two hundred to four thousand words, and conclude with see references and a bibliography. Some include sidebars and photographs. According to the editors—both academics with impressive credentials—the entries were chosen over a one-and-a-half-year period through analyzing media, historical sources, newspaper and journal articles, and suggestions from experts in the field. Over ninety people contributed, mainly academics.

Volume 2, after the entries from H–Z, includes five primary sources, including the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998. A selected bibliography follows, then brief biographies of the two editors and an even briefer biography of each contributor. The volume concludes with a thorough index, the main entry page numbers in boldface.

This encyclopedia is impressive, with its wide-ranging choice of topics and the inclusion of tips for purchasing, information on avoiding fraud and scams, descriptions of the many departments devoted to consumer issues, and thorough discussions of the numerous pieces of legislation related to consumers and their rights and safety, from automobile purchasing to renters rights, the National Transportation Safety Board, the National Do Not Call Registry, and the National Consumer Law Center and Public Interest Research Groups. Much of this information can be found elsewhere, but these two volumes have it all in one, easy-to-find place. I would recommend this for public, high school, and college libraries and anyone who works with consumers.