Reading Doctors Writing is a book for every Australian who reads or writes health research about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. However, its not just a story about medical progress. Medical research has been influenced by the politics of colonialism, the nationalist politics associated with Federation, and most importantly, by the politics of race, racism and anti-racism. This history of Indigenous health research fuels the suspicion felt by Indigenous people today about researchers, and research. Reading Doctors Writing invites those involved in Indigenous health research to confront rather than evade the history and politics of their work.