Part historical treatise, part philosophical analysis, The Secret Chain carefully presents and critically evaluates virtually every important discussion of the connection between evolutionary biology and ethics from the 18th century to the present day. Writing in Creation/Evolution (1996 Winter; 39: 52-3), Arthur Shapiro remarked that Bradie "has important and novel insights about many of the thinkers he discusses (I was particularly entranced with his comments on Spencer and Kropotkin), but his summation and synthesis come out neither radical nor optimistic for an evolutionary ethics." The author is Professor of Philosophy at Bowling Green State University.