Book excerpt: This book describes how exposure to various classes of endocrine disruptors, as well as other environmental chemicals targeting the endocrine system by alternative non-endocrine mechanisms, impact on endocrinological and endocrinological-related diseases. It includes comprehensive reviews of all aspects of environmental endocrinology, ranging from sources and patterns of exposure and identification of endocrine targets to direct endocrine disruptive mechanisms and indirect actions on the endocrine system, the latter including endocrine cell-directed cytotoxicity, oxidative damage, and genetic and epigenetic aberrations resulting in endocrine damage. It also examines the causal pathways and offers an extensive overview of downstream endocrinological and endocrinological-related disorders. In addition, several chapters focus on transgenerational actions, which are a topic of particular interest. Lastly, evidence from preclinical and clinical studies provides the basis for an in-depth, critical discussion of each topic. The book is part of the SpringerReference program, which provides access to ‘living editions’ that are constantly updated using a dynamic peer-review publishing process.