America's Struggle against Poverty in the Twentieth Century: Enlarged Edition / Edition 4

by James T. Patterson

Overview

This new edition of Patterson's widely used book carries the story of battles over poverty and social welfare through what the author calls the "amazing 1990s," those years of extraordinary performance of the economy. He explores a range of issues arising from the economic phenomenon—increasing inequality and demands for use of an improved poverty definition. He focuses the story on the impact of the highly controversial welfare reform of 1996, passed by a Republican Congress and signed by a Democratic President Clinton, despite the laments of anguished liberals.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674004344
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	09/29/2000
Edition description:	Enlarged Edition
Pages:	334
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.95(d)

About the Author

James T. Patterson is Professor of History, Emeritus, at Brown University.

Table of Contents

I	The Preventive Impulse, 1900-1930
1	Snapshots of the Poor	3
2	The Gospel of Prevention, Progressive Style	19
II	Coping and Rehabilitation, 1930-1960
3	The Poor in the Depression	37
4	The Early Welfare State	55
5	Withering Away	76
III	Doors to Opportunity, 1960-1965
6	The Rediscovery of Poverty	97
7	A Culture of Poverty?	112
8	Girding for War on Poverty	122
9	OEO: A Hand Up, Not a Handout	138
IV	The Unsung Revolution, 1965-1973
10	The Revolution in Social Welfare	153
11	The Welfare Explosion	166
12	Floors and Doors	179
V	Reactions, 1980-2000
13	Stalemate	193
14	Regression in the Early 1980s	204
15	Welfare Reform: No Consensus	217
16	The Amazing 1990s	234
	Notes	245
	Resources	302
	Index	305

Editorial Reviews

[Patterson's] perspective on poverty continues to be an influential one in the debate about which policies help and which hurt the poor ... Readers will be reminded of many things they had forgotten, will learn some things they never knew, and will be provoked to new questions.

Fortune - Herbert Stein

A splendid introduction to and review of the attitudes in the United States toward the poor and of efforts to ameliorate their condition...Patterson treats his subject with verve, energy, and considerable style...No one with any interest in the subject can afford to ignore it.

Daniel J. Leab

A splendid introduction to and review of the attitudes in the United States toward the poor and of efforts to ameliorate their condition...Patterson treats his subject with verve, energy, and considerable style...No one with any interest in the subject can afford to ignore it.
— Daniel J. Leab

Political Science Quarterly

[Patterson's] perspective on poverty continues to be an influential one in the debate about which policies help and which hurt the poor ... Readers will be reminded of many things they had forgotten, will learn some things they never knew, and will be provoked to new questions.
— Herbert Stein

Fortune