From Welfare to Workfare

“Well-organized. . . . Valuable. . . . . Will appeal to readers interested in women and poverty, reform and the policymaking process, the influence of economy on government, and the intricacies of federal welfare law.” — Business History Review

“A subtly argued and convincing account of the ways in which liberal reformers like Wilbur Cohen and social work professionals . . . unwittingly participated in the ending of welfare payments and the substitution of work-based programs. . . . An excellent example of the ways in which careful historical research and writing can illuminate a very complicated and contentious issue.” — Historian

“Mittelstadt’s greatest strength is her persistent attention to sex and gender as variables that have shaped welfare politics. . . . From Welfare to Workfare definitely makes a contribution to the feminist history of public welfare in the United States.” — Journal of American History

“[Mittelstadt] has tied up issues of race, gender, public policy, and modern American politics in a package far neater as history than as the reality we confront daily. . . . A major work that historians of law and policy, recent America, race or gender will find indispensable.” — Law and History Review

“[From Welfare to Workforce: The Unintended Consequences of Liberal Reform] is an important contribution to the growing historiography of American social welfare history. . . . Mittelstadt’s book serves as a strong reminder that the years from 1945 to 1965 were a significant period in the history of social welfare policy.” — American Historical Review

“Mittelstadt’s engaging book details a relatively uncharted chapter in the history of U.S. poverty policy.” — Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare

“Jennifer Mittelstadt has given us a careful and well-informed account of the convoluted and ironic history of late-twentieth-century welfare reform. And she does this in a smooth and even gripping narrative that is a very good read.” — Frances Fox Piven, City University of New York

“In her insightful and original examination of welfare politics after World War II, Mittlelstadt explains how modern so-called welfare reformers could successfully hijack a nuanced 'liberal' family policy to the detriment of those whom the law intended to help. Her extensively researched discussion makes a crucial contribution to the evolution of welfare policy.” — Cynthia Harrison, George Washington University