Few things tell us more of a nation's general well-being than the development of the life-expectancy of its citizens; the rising standards of health that they come to demand; and how evenly that improvement is shared throughout society. Helen Jones examines the record of twentieth-century Britain in these respects. She has much heartening progress to record - yet stark inequalities remain. Her book is thus both a review of, and contribution to, the current debates over gender, class and ethnic inequalities in standards of health in Britain today.