The issue of assisted suicide and euthanasia, so controversial in our own time, was hotly debated both in pagan antiquity and throughout the history of the church. This comprehensive collection of nearly three dozen essays and court cases opens with the editor’s perceptive survey of relevant classical, Christian, and early modern thought. Then writers ranging from Jack Kevorkian to Pope John Paul II, from Peter Singer to Leon Kass, from activists to Supreme Court justices, offer diverse moral, medical, and legal perspectives. A helpful introduction to each section guides readers through the debate.

“A thorough look, in lively prose, at a complex ethical issue.”
--Publishers Weekly

"A splendid achievement. The book is that unusual thing, a debate that really lets all sides have at it. This is an indispensable reference in a controversy that will continue to roil our public life for as long as life continues to be terminal."
--Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, publisher of First Things

"An invaluable resource for specialists and non-specialists alike. Uhlmann has gathered under one cover an exhaustive cast of players, voices past and present from religion, medicine, and law that represent the whole spectrum of opinion. I know of no other single volume that so comprehensively represents this debate."
--Vigen Guroian, Loyola College in Maryland