Emergency Abdominal Surgery is a battleground for the surgeon - providing character-building experiences, and opportunities for triumph and disaster. In the third  edition of this 'simple' book, emergency abdominal surgery is discussed in an informal and no nonsense fashion - as practiced in the 'trenches' of the ER and the OR. The preferred approach for a given situation is discussed in context; it has to fulfill certain prerequisites: save lives, decrease morbidity, be cost effective and be performed correctly.