- Designed as an alternative to overly comprehensive, lengthy, and expensive introductory texts, Essential Criminology is, as its title implies, a concise overview of the field. The book guides students through the various definitions of crime and the different ways crime is measured. It then covers the major theories of crime, from individual-level, classical, and rational choice to biological, psychological, social learning, social control, and interactionist perspectives. }Designed as an alternative to overly comprehensive, lengthy, and expensive introductory texts, Essential Criminology is, as its title implies, a concise overview of the field. The book guides students through the various definitions of crime and the different ways crime is measured. It then covers the major theories of crime, from individual-level, classical, and rational choice to biological, psychological, social learning, social control, and interactionist perspectives. The more sociocultural theories, beginning with social ecology theory and moving on to strain/subcultural theory, conflict, Marxist, and anarchist approaches, are also treated. In the last chapter, Mark Lanier and Stuart Henry examine new directions in criminology, including left realist, feminist, postmodern/constitutive, and integrative theory.Among the several unique, student-friendly features in Essential Criminology are an original, integrated, prismatic definition of crime; equal time examples from both white-collar (suite) and conventional (street) crime; chapter-by-chapter discussion of criminal justice policy implications; summary empirical research charts for each of the theories; and summary concept tables.