The forty-year Tuskegee Syphilis Study, which took place in and
around Tuskegee, Alabama, from the 1930s through the 1970s, has
become a profound metaphor for medical racism, government
malfeasance, and physician arrogance. Susan M. Reverby's
Examining Tuskegee is a comprehensive analysis of the
notorious study of untreated syphilis among African American men,
who were told by U.S. Public Health Service doctors that they were
being treated, not just watched, for their late-stage syphilis.
With rigorous clarity, Reverby investigates the study and its
aftermath from multiple perspectives and illuminates the reasons
for its continued power and resonance in our collective memory.