Bioethics: A Catholic Primer is a succinct, precise, and accurate treatment of the Catholic moral tradition in medicine.

Professors teaching an undergraduate bioethics course will use it as a primary text or as an ancillary text in a general ethics course that has a medical ethics section. Professors in both situations will find it an attractive alternative or addition to current offerings. This applies especially to those teaching at a Catholic-affiliated college or university. Professors teaching in pre-health­care professional, pre-medical, and in nursing programs (both undergraduate and graduate) will adopt this text both as a primary text and as an ancillary text, depending on their needs. Because of its slender, compact, yet rewarding content, professors will find it appealing to assign. Moreover, students will not find its size daunting. Its accuracy, precision, and small size will make it appealing to a more general audience.

Moreover, by its brevity, it will gain an audience interested in Catholic med­ical ethics, yet often overwhelmed by the very size of the volumes available. People interested in an overarching, accurate, yet brief treatment of the Catholic moral tradition in medicine will read this slim volume (for exam­ple, members on ethics committees at Catholic hospitals). Others (faculty, students, patients, pastors, physicians, and nurses) will read it themselves and confidently share it with their friends and loved ones, knowing that they will find in it a rewarding, slender, accessible treatment of a rich moral tradition.

Thomas Anthony Cavanaugh is professor of philosophy at University of San Francisco.