Welfare: Helping Hand or Trap? (Issues in Focus)

Weiss, Ann E.

ISBN 10: 0894901699 ISBN 13: 9780894901690

Publisher: Enslow Pub Inc, 1600

Synopsis

Considers the development of welfare, how it affects those in the system, and recent changes in welfare in the United States.

About this title

Reviews

Grade 7 Up-- The introductory chapter in this informative book defines welfare, gives a few statistics, and summarizes opinions both for and against. Next comes the history of welfare programs dating back to ancient Egypt and Rome, through medieval Europe to early and 19th-century England. Particularly moving is Weiss' description of the horrors of British poorhouses; Henry Morton Stanley (of Stanley and Livingstone) relates his childhood experiences in one such place. Subsequent chapters discuss the historical background of welfare in the United States, the failures and successes attributed to it, the fiction and reality of widespread fraud, other welfare myths, and recent reform ideas up through those of George Bush. Weiss is generally careful to define terms and to use statistics and quotations where they will be most effective. Overall organization is good, writing is clear, and Weiss seems quite objective. The emphasis is not on the pros and cons of welfare, but on the historical and philosophical underpinnings behind it. --Rosie Peasley, Sylvan Union School District, Modesto, CA
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Enslow Pub Inc
• Publication date: 1600
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0894901699
• ISBN 13: 9780894901690
• Binding: Library Binding