Renée Fox and Judith Swazey’s most recent book traces the origins and development of the field of bioethics, including their participation in it over the past 40 years. According to the authors, the aims of Observing Bioethics are to describe the “intellectual, professional, and organizational development” of bioethics and to situate the field within its larger social and cultural context. The resulting book is one part historical and sociological analysis and the other part retrospective. Because they themselves were participants in the development of the field, the authors made the decision to include in the book their own experiences as part of the bioethics community. While this at times only serves to add stories about bioethics celebrations and conferences at which one or both were attendees, it also includes an analysis of the role of the social sciences in bioethics by recounting their own (especially Fox’s) interactions with pioneers in the field.