Introduction – Mortality Framework and Context : Richard Rogers and Eileen Crimmins.- Part 1: Historical Trends.- Chapter 1. Historical Trends in Mortality: France Meslé and Jacques Vallin, INED.- Part 2: Temporal and Spatial Trends Associated with Mortality.- Chapter 2. Comparative International Trends: Europe: Marc Luy, Christian Wegner, Wolfgang Lutz, IIASA, and Vienna Institute of Demography, Austrian Academy of Sciences.- Chapter 3. Adult Mortality in the Former Soviet Union: Michael Murphy, London School of Economics.- Chapter 4. Latin America and the Caribbean from 1850 to the Present: Alberto Palloni, Northwestern University.- Chapter 5. Adult Mortality in Asia: Zhongwei Zhao, Australian National University.- Chapter 6. Adult Mortality Trends in Africa: Georges Reniers, Princeton University, Bruno Masquelier, UCL, Belgium, and Patrick Gerland, UN.- Chapter 7. Global Trends in AIDS Mortality: John Bongaarts, Population Council, and François Pelletier, United Nations Population Division, and Patrick Gerland, UN Pop. Division.- Part 3: Sociodemographic, Economic, and Psychological Determinants of Mortality.- Chapter 8. Early Life Conditions and Later Life Mortality: Jennifer Karas Montez Mark Hayward, University of Texas at Austin.- Chapter 9. Age Patterns in Adult Mortality, with a Focus on Centenarians: Jean-Marie Robine, INSERM.- Chapter 10. Sex and Gender Differences in Mortality: Richard G. Rogers, Bethany G. Everett, and Robert J. Kemp, University of Colorado.- Chapter 11. The Hispanic Paradox: Kyriakos S. Markides and Karl Eschbach, University of Texas Medical Branch.- Chapter 12. Educational Attainment and Adult Mortality: Robert A. Hummer and Joseph T. Lariscy, University of Texas at Austin.- Chapter 13: Work, Occupation, Income, and Mortality: Patrick Krueger, University of Texas School of Public Health, and Sarah A. Burgard, University of Michigan.- Chapter 14. The Influence of Health Behaviors on Mortality: Christine L. Himes, SyracuseUniversity.- Chapter 15. Discrimination, Chronic Stress, and Mortality among Black Americans: A Life-Course Framework: James Jackson, Darrell Hudson, Kiarri Kershaw, Briana Mezuk, Jane Rafferty, and Katherine Knight Tuttle, University of Michigan.- Chapter 16. Self-Rated Assessments of Mortality: Marja Jylhä, University of Tampere, Finland.- Chapter 17. Religion and Adult Mortality: Ellen Idler, Rutgers University.- Part 4: Biological Risk Factors.- Chapter 18. Links between Biomarkers and Mortality: Eileen Crimmins and Sarinnapha Vasunilashorn, University of Southern California.- Chapter 19. Genetic Factors and Adult Mortality: Kaare Christensen, University of Southern Denmark, and James W. Vaupel, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research.- Part 5: Contextual Effects on Mortality.- Chapter 20. Neighborhood Effects on Mortality: Arijit Nandi and Ichiro Kawachi, Harvard University.- Chapter 21. Health and Mortality Consequences of the Physical Environment: Christopher Browning, Ohio State University, Eileen E. Bjornstrom, University of Missouri, and Kathleen A. Cagney, University of Chicago.- Part 6: Classification of Causes of Death.- Chapter 22. Coding and Classifying Causes of Death: Trends and International Differences: Robert N. Anderson, National Center for Health Statistics.- Chapter 23. Avoidable Mortality: A Review: Hiram Beltrán-Sánchez, University of Southern California.- Part 7: Mathematical and Modeling Approaches to Mortality.- Chapter 24. Model Schedules of Mortality: Patrick Heuveline, UCLA and Sam Clark, University of Washington.- Chapter 25. Period versus Cohort Mortality: Michel Guillot, University of Pennsylvania.- Chapter 26. Healthy Life Expectancy: Carol Jagger, University of Leicester, and Jean-Marie Robine, French Institute of Health and Medicinal Research, INSERM.- Part 8: Government Policies Designed to Affect Mortality.- Chapter 27. Mortality Avoidable by Health Care and Public Health and Policy Interventions: Luc Bonneux, NIDI.-Chapter 28. Government Policies Intended to Influence Adult Mortality: S. Jay Olshansky, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Dana Goldman, RAND.- Conclusion: Richard Rogers and Eileen Crimmins.