My initial purpose in writing this book was to offer readers an update of my book Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects (Plenum, 1984), which con tained a broad overview of the history (actually the absence of any history) ofthe awareness of alcohol's teratogenic potential; a review of alcohol's pharmacology, especially with respect to pregnancy; a survey of the physical and behavioral effects of prenatal alcohol exposure; and an overview of the mechanisms sus pected of being responsible for those effects. I have omitted most of the previously examined historical and pharmacologi...