Introduction : race, medical uncertainty, and American culture -- Historical contingencies : Tuskegee Institute, the Public Health Service, and syphilis -- Planned, plotted, & official : the study begins -- Almost undone : the study continues -- What makes it stop? -- Testimony : the public story in the 1970s -- What happened to the men & their families? -- Why & wherefore : the Public Health Service doctors -- Triage & "powerful sympathizing" : Eugene H. Dibble, Jr -- The best care : Eunice Verdell Rivers Laurie -- Bioethics, history, & the study as gospel -- The court of imagination -- The political spectacle of blame & apology -- Epilogue : the difficulties of treating racism with "Tuskegee".