Book excerpt: Cardiovascular heart disease mortality in African Americans is the highest of all major racial/ethnic subpopulations in the United States. Examining race and ethnicity, Cardiovascular Disease in Racial and Ethnic Minorities will reveal that there are unacceptable healthcare disparities in risk factor prevalence, disease states, and cardiovascular outcomes in the United States. Written by a team of experts, Cardiovascular Disease in Racial and Ethnic Minorities examines to what degree biomedical and scientific literature can clarify the impact of genetic variation versus environment as related to cardiovascular disease. Chapters illustrate the magnitude of cardiovascular and metabolic disparities and the effect of environment on diseases.