Poverty in the United States: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, and Policy (Repost)

The history of poverty in the U.S. includes many aspects of the American past; it also includes the diverse experiences of many people. These volumes contain more than 300 entries on issues, events, debates, concepts, social and political movements, legislation, and more as they relate to poverty and social welfare. Examples include Adolescent pregnancy, African American migration, Feminization of poverty, Food stamps, Immigration policy, Salvation Army, Social Security Act of 1935, and Work ethic. Also covered are important texts, such as Jane Addams' Twenty Years at Hull House and John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.

Volume 1 opens with a 50-page essay that surveys poverty "as part of the broad sweep of American history," from the colonial period to the present. The alphabetically arranged entries that follow range in size from very short to 10 pages. Each concludes with cross-references and suggestions for further reading. Scattered throughout the text are excerpts from key documents, such as speeches, congressional testimony, and court decisions. Although there are no biographical entries, people such as Addams and Steinbeck, along with Grace Abbott, Cesar Chavez, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Jacob Riis, and others, appear as headings, with see references to entries for works they authored or programs or movements they helped create. One individual who is missed is Dorothy Day, although she is discussed at some length in the Catholic Worker Movement entry.