The rights and responsibilities of health citizenship are increasingly at the forefront of public policy debates concerning disease prevention and health management. These debates have global implications for prosperity, equality, and stability in dramatically changing demographic, economic, political and ecological environments. This collection of essays are intended to lead the reader to an understanding of the history of public health, the rise of the modern state, the role of the social sciences in population health promotion, and the changing social contract of health citizenship in industrial and post-industrial societies.