Levy, Stuart B., The Antibiotic Paradox: How Miracle Drugs Are Destroying the Miracle, Boston: Perseus Books, 2002.

The antibiotic era, barely 60 years old, is increasingly challenged by the continued emergence of drug-resistant organisms. The variables that currently predict the level of resistance in a community (or a hospital) are the misuse of antibiotics and the resultant selection of mutants, the spread of resistant strains as a result of poor infection control, and intrusion from the outside of strains already resistant to the drug. Without the pressure of antibiotics, however, the selection of strains in the community harboring the genes that code for resistance would not be so effective. No one has been more outspoken on this point than Stuart Levy, author of this encyclopedic account of the misuse of antibiotics.

White, David G., Alekshun, Michael N., and McDermott, Patrick F., Eds. Frontiers in Antimicrobial Resistance: A Tribute to Stuart B. Levy, Washington, DC: ASM Press, 2005.

This book, the unifying theme of which is antimicrobial resistance, consists of 7 major sections containing a total of 40 chapters. The chapters are organized according to specific types of mechanisms of resistance and according to individual human pathogens (almost all of them bacteria). In addition, the section on the ecology and fitness of drug resistance discusses the use of antimicrobial agents in animals (mainly antibacterial) and plants (mainly antifungal). The section on policy, education, and exploration explores regulatory and political issues and includes an infomercial for the scientific and public-health organization cofounded by Dr. Stuart B. Levy.