The three-term Democratic Senator from Arizona presents a memoir of his tenure in the Congress, emphasizing his position as a centrist, which helped him engineer consensus on the Panama Canal Treaty of 1977. In addition to reflecting on his achievements while in the Senate, he also spends considerable time discussing the banking and political contribution scandal involving himself and the other "Keating Five."

Cook-Deegan, a former director of the Biomedical Ethics Advisory Committee of the US Congress and an advisor to the National Center for Human Genome Research, gives a firsthand account of the struggle to launch the Human Genome Project. Using primary documents and interviews, Cook-Deegan explains scientific details, chronicles the origins of the project, covers the conflicts and partnerships between the organizations involved, and examines ethical, legal, and social issues of DNA research. Includes bandw photos. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR