This is the first textbook of acupuncture to concentrate on the historical, intellectual, and scientific roots of acupuncture. The authors have organized information provided by the research and personal cooperation of scholars, scientists, and clinicians, to produce a survey text which is exclusively drawn from peer-reviewed literature and extensively referenced.

The first two chapters describe acupuncture's ancient and modern history, and emphasize its continual adaptation to the needs of East Asian populations and the refinement of Asian methods of problem-solving. The third chapter discusses the basic theories of traditional medicine, not as clinical instructions, but as expressions of Asia's refinement of naked-sense observation and the relationships of systematic correspondence. Chapters Four and Five consider the basic science and clinical efficacy of acupuncture. These chapters contain the first conveniently-accessible analyses of scientific work on acupuncture and openly discuss the biases that have affected scientific judgements. Chapter Six describes patient assessment, again, not as the clinical protocols of a particular school of practice but as a set of broadly shared intellectual and observational skills. This is also true of the following chapter where the authors present the central therapies of acupuncture in a framework embracing the tremendous variety of the field.

The authors conclude with a challenging assessment of the current economic status of acupuncture's pioneer institutions relative to the field's need to sustain its integrity in massive Western medical markets and delivery and education systems. The back matter contains information for patients and referring physicians, including a list of non-commerical resources, a list of seminal historic texts in Asian languages, and an extensive bibliography.