The standard text in the field, Vold's Theoretical Criminology is universally known by scholars in the discipline. Taking a largely historical approach, it discusses both classic and contemporary theories, presenting historical context and empirical research for each one. The book concludes with a chapter on assessing theories and their policy implications. The writing style is appropriate for my students. It is not so advanced that students will constantly run across unfamiliar words but at the same time it is not 'dumbed down' to a very low level...clear and readable, includes a lot of current research, includes theories not found in other books...The coverage of personality tests is very interesting and includes material that is not usually found in other books." -Ellen Cohn, Florida International U.