This book by Simon and Abdel-Moneim (both, American Univ.) begins with a broad introduction to military conscription throughout history, followed by chapters on 22 countries, 10 of which have conscription. It covers the major national military establishments worldwide. Chapters address the history of conscription in a particular country, the composition of the armed forces, and information on who can serve, along with the status of minorities, women, gays, and lesbians. Graphs feature, for a period of several years, the percentages of military expenditures related to the country's GDP, armed forces personnel as a percentage of the national labor force, and total armed forces personnel. Reference source notes appear at the end of chapters. Some brief, relevant, updated information can be found in the CIA's The World Factbook https://www.cia.

gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html (CH, Dec'09, 47-1794). Having this information in one place is convenient so that readers can avoid having to locate it in each country's ministry of defense website. This title is the 14th volume in the publisher's "World Over" series, which includes a related work by Simon (with Alison Brooks) titled Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship the World Over (2009)--useful because many countries do officially perceive military service as an individual's civic duty. This new handbook could be placed in either the reference or general circulating collections of a large public library or academic library, and in appropriate special collections. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty; general readers.