The controversial aspects included the contents of the book, whether the research was conducted ethically, whether it should have been published by the National Academies Press, and whether it should have been promoted as a scientific work. According to Benedict Carey's story in The New York Times, "To many of Dr. Bailey's peers, his story is a morality play about the corrosive effects of political correctness on academic freedom."
Certain issues arose from the book's material, the research's moral implications, whether it should have been released by the National Academies Press, and whether it should have been promoted as a scholarly work. As reported by Benedict Carey in The New York Times, "To many of Dr. Bailey's peers, his story is a morality play about the damaging effects of political correctness on academic freedom."