An engaging history of the role that George Washington Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin played in the origins of public health in America Before the advent of modern antibiotics oneamp8217s life could beabruptly shattered by contagion and death and debility from infectiousdiseases and epidemics was commonplace for early Americans regardless ofsocial status. Concerns over health affected the founding fathers and theirfamilies as it did slaves merchants immigrants and everyone else in NorthAmerica. As both victims of illness and national leaders the Founders occupieda unique position regarding the development of public health in America. Revolutionary Medicine refocuses thestudy of the lives of George and Martha Washington Benjamin Franklin ThomasJefferson John and Abigail Adams and James and Dolley Madison away from theusual lens of politics to the unique perspective of sickness health andmedicine in their era. For the founders republican ideals fostered a reciprocalconnection between individual health and the amp8220healthamp8221 of the nation. Studyingthe encounters of these American founders with illness and disease as well astheir viewpoints about good health not only provides us with a richer and morenuanced insight into their lives but also opens a window into the practice ofmedicine in the eighteenth century which is at once intimate personal andfirst hand. Perhaps most importantly todayamp8217s American public healthinitiatives have their roots in the work of Americaamp8217s founders for theyrecognized early on that government had compelling reasons to shoulder some newresponsibilities with respect to ensuring the health and wellbeing of itscitizenry. The state of medicine and public healthcare today is still awork in progress but these founders played a significant role in beginning theconversation that shaped the contours of its development.