The dramatic story of the rise of public health, one of humanity’s greatest, if fragile and incomplete, accomplishments—and a vision for human thriving in the 21st century

Public health is an unusual discipline—a combination of science, sociology, politics, and logistics—with a simple goal: to create the conditions for human thriving. At the moment, Americans, regardless of what macroeconomic statistics might suggest, are decidedly not thriving: from our failed covid response to our epidemics of depression and isolation to our inadequate healthcare system, Americans are in a state of deep malaise.

Michelle Williams, one of the country's true innovators in public health, reaches back into the past to draw out the lessons that public health has to offer for our time and into the future. She tells the hidden history of public health in America—how radicals and renegades from WEB DuBois to Jane Addams to the activists of ACT UP helped lead what she calls "the great escape" from human suffering that is at the heart of the public health mission. As she takes readers from one dramatic story to the next, she draws out the lessons that apply to our time, and makes the compelling argument that it is public health, rather than standard economic metrics or partisan politics, that should drive our country's policies and political culture—and that if we fail to prioritize health and well-being for everyone, we have failed as a society. She ends by pointing to the ideas and policies that have the potential to transform this country and fulfill our founding creed—to "promote the general welfare for ourselves and our posterity."

Here is a dramatic, sweeping history that enables us to better understand the past—the victories, defeats, and tipping points that compelled us to take action—and what we need to do in the future to address new and novel threats, and complete the unfinished business of public health.

Story Locale:United States

Format: Hardcover

Author: Williams, Michelle A.

Publisher: One World

Pub Date: February 3, 2026

Category: Social Science / Disease & Health Issues

ISBN: 9780593595541

Evening House Books

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