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Ian Dowbiggin. A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. xix + 250 pp. $28.00 (0-19-515443-6).
This book contains many engaging stories about the "euthanasia movement" in the United States. Ian Dowbiggin is at his best in the early chapters (1-4), which chart the course of the movement to the mid-1970s. The Euthanasia Society of America (ESA) is the focus of attention. In the final two chapters (5-6) the author turns to the post-1975 period, without highlighting a particular group or issue.
Dowbiggin suggests that the meaning of "euthanasia" has changed over time, shifting from "easy death" to "mercy killing" to "the right to die." Yet he does little to specify or to analyze the shades or shifts of meaning, or to document their historical evolution. He brings under the label of "euthanasia" all forms of hastened death and all movements proclaiming a right to die. To cite two unconvincing examples, he judges (1) that Pope Pius XII "announced...