Preface
Chapter One
The Undeserving Poor: Morals, Culture and Biology
Chapter Two
Poverty and the Politics of Liberation
Chapter Three
Intellectual Foundations of the War on Poverty and Great
Society
Chapter Four
Interpretations of Poverty in the Conservative Ascendance
Chapter Five
The Rise and Fall of the "Underclass"
Epilogue
What Kind of a Problem is Poverty?
Acknowledgments
Index
Michael B. Katz was the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History at
the University of Pennsylvania. The author of Why Don't American
Cities Burn?, The Price of Citizenship: Redefining the American
Welfare State, and In the Shadow of the Poorhouse: A Social History
of Welfare in America, he was a past-president of the History of
Education Society and the Urban History Association. The first
edition of The Undeserving
Poor was a semi-finalist for the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and a
finalist for the American Sociological Association's Distinguished
Book Award.
"A convincing and clear historical perspective on the peculiar
perceptions of poverty and welfare in the United States" --William
Julius Wilson, University of Chicago
"The Undeserving Poor is likely to become the definitive history of
contemporary poverty policy. Not only is Michael B. Katz a fine
scholar, but he brings to his subject a deep empathy for the
marginalized and the outcast." --Frances Fox Piven, City University
of New York
"A broadly conceived and provocative review of America's recent
efforts to help the poor and its return to punishing them."
--Herbert J. Gans, Columbia University
"With the publication of The Undeserving Poor, Michael B. Katz is
destined to join a select set of brilliant writers who have changed
how America thinks about poverty. Like Michael Harrington's The
Other America and William Ryan's Blaming the Victim, this new book
has the real promise of shattering stereotypes." --Barry Bluestone,
University of Massachusetts
"As students of poverty and inequality, we grew up with the classic
first edition of The Undeserving Poor. Now, Michael Katz has
undertaken a rigorous revision. But this new book is more than a
second edition. It is an extraordinary analysis of shifts in
academic research and political paradigms, as well as a global
perspective on the question of poverty in America. Katz once again
demonstrates that he is one of the most influential and
creative
social historians of our times." --Ananya Roy, University of
California, Berkeley, and author of Poverty Capital
"Michael Katz has done a magnificent job of revising his classic
text. It draws on a remarkable range of new material while
retaining the clarity, historical perspective, and ethical
sensibilities of the original. Everybody, from beginning student to
seasoned expert, has something to learn from this important
book."--Alice O'Connor, University of California, Santa Barbara
"With the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty just around the
corner, the hawks and doves of that 'conflict' are sharpening their
arguments. All of them should read this classic of American policy,
research, and public attitudes on poverty. Michael Katz, the
pre-eminent scholar of the subject, has fully updated this
indispensable volume right up to the moment."--Peter Edelman,
author of So Rich So Poor
"This is social history at its best. Katz excavates the political
and ideological battles over what we should do to lift people out
of poverty and into the middle class. Like a good drama, it is
filled with fascinating people: politicians, writers, policy wonks,
activists, academics, philanthropists, and journalists. Their
personalities, interests, ideas, and conflicts have shaped how we
view the poor and what we do about poverty. Katz makes it all come
alive
in this absorbing and well-written book." --Peter Dreier, Chair,
Urban & Environmental Policy Department, Occidental College
"The original edition of The Undeserving Poor profoundly influenced
two generations of poverty scholars and policy-makers. Full of
fresh research and thoroughly re-written to incorporate the
insights of feminist scholars, critical race theorists, economists,
geographers, political philosophers and poverty historians, this
new edition is as indispensable as the first. At a time when
poverty rates are skyrocketing, Katz's insight and vast knowledge
are
more critical than ever." --Annelise Orleck, author of Storming
Caesars Palace: How Black Mothers Fought Their Own War on
Poverty
"Katz has written a provocative, insightful, and much-needed update
to the first edition of his The Undeserving Poor (1990)... Katz
convincingly argues that the itneraction among political economy,
resources, and power offer clues to addressing these questions, and
that ad hoc deliberation, rather than ineffective consistency that
has dogged past efforts to combat poverty, must be the order of the
day. Summing up: Highly recommended." --CHOICE
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