For various reasons, says Salters (Hebrew, U. of St. Andrews, Scotland), this Old Testament book has not been included until now in the series, which he suggests might be one reason for its neglect by scholars during the 20th century. His introduction discusses such matters as the place of Lamentations in the canon, authorship, Mesopotamian links, alphabetic acrostics, texts and versions, and theology. Then, for each of the five chapters, he briefly surveys the structure, style, and characteristics; offers a translation; presents the Masoretic text and any other ancient versions, line by line with commentary; and closes with his exegetical commentary. He has not indexed his work. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)