Book excerpt: This issue of Critical Care Clinics, guest edited by Drs. Michael Matthay and Kathleen Dori Lui, focuses on Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. This is one of four issues each year selected by the series consulting editor, Dr. John Kellum. Articles in this issue include, but are not limited to: Epidemiology, Environmental Factors, Clinical Diagnosis, Physiology of ARDS, including COVID-19, Pathogenesis Based on Clinical Studies, Genetics of ARDS, Ventilator Management and Rescue Therapy with ECMO, Acute Kidney Injury and ARDS, Pharmacologic Therapies and ARDS and Long Term Outcomes from ARDS. - Provides in-depth, clinical reviews on ARDS, providing actionable insights for clinical practice. - Presents the latest information on this timely, focused topic under the leadership of experienced editors in the field; Authors synthesize and distill the latest research and practice guidelines to create these timely topic-based reviews.