The Tuskegee Study is one of the most infamous medical studies ever conducted. From 1932 to 1972, the federal government studied the long-term effects of syphilis on 399 men. The study has been condemned because the black men were never treated for the disease and were never told the true nature of their illness.--Publisher description.

The forty year "Tuskegee" Syphilis Study has become the American metaphor for medical racism, government malfeasance, and physician arrogance. The subject of histories, films, rumors, and political slogans, it received an official federal apology from President Bill Clinton in a White House ceremony. The author offers an analysis of the notorious study of untreated syphilis, which took place in and around Tuskegee, Alabama, from the 1930s through...