S Loue. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2000, US$55.00 (hb), pp 255+xix. ISBN 0-306-46448-9

• Loue S. Textbook of Research Ethics: Theory and Practice

Research ethics is high on the agenda of medical ethics and regulatory topics worldwide at the moment. In this field it is thus important to have good textbooks, to educate health care professionals, researchers, ethicists, students, and policy makers about the nature of research ethics, its history and social contexts. Professor Loue's book is thus published in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

The book has many merits. It consists of five chapters and two appendices. The first chapter summarises several of the iconic scandals in medical ethics, notably the Tuskegee syphilis study and the Nazi doctors' atrocities. The historical scholarship of this chapter is solid, if not original, and it is useful to have it gathered here in a convenient place. There is a serious debate to be had about the pedagogy and philosophy …