This two-volume handbook summarizes and makes sense of exciting intellectual developments in the field of community psychology. As a discipline that is considered a half century old in the United States, community psychology has grown in the sophistication and reach of theories and research.

Reviewing the chapters of the APA Handbook of Community Psychology, the reader will readily notice several themes emerge. Community psychology's ideas are becoming increasingly elaborated; its theory, research and interventions more situated; and its reach in both thought and action, more expansive.

Ideas that may have seemed much simpler when first proposed -- for example, community, prevention and empowerment -- have come to pose challenges, contradictions and opportunities initially unspecified and perhaps unimagined.

Under the editorial direction of Meg A. Bond, Irma Serrano-Garc a, Christopher B. Keys, and Marybeth Shinn, with chapters authored by both senior and rising scholars, the APA Handbook of Community Psychology provides an indispensable and authoritative reference resource for researchers, instructors, students, practitioners, field leaders and life-long learners alike.

This highly anticipated addition to the APA Handbooks in Psychology(R) series covers current knowledge and identifies the most pertinent sources of information in both the core and evolving literature. It highlights community psychology's emphasis on the synergistic relationship between research and action, and offers an international outlook, including chapters integrating perspectives from across cultures and contexts around the world.