Backlash against Welfare Mothers Past and Present

"Reese's masterful study sheds new light on the contemporary welfare backlash by reconstructing the dynamics of an earlier wave of attacks on welfare mothers half a century ago, a history that has long been obliterated from public memory. Her powerful, lucid state-level comparative analysis of the 1950s exposes the critical role of conservative low-wage employers (mainly in agriculture) in launching the anti-welfare campaigns of that era, and she goes on to show how a broader coalition of low-wage employers played the same role in the recent backlash. This is a major contribution to the historical sociology of welfare and deserves a wide readership."--Ruth Milkman, author of "Gender at Work."This book provides a powerful new understanding of the right-wing attacks on Aid to Families with Dependent Children, the United States's major welfare program that was ultimately dismantled in 1996. Reese's rich historical account sheds important new light on our nation's compassionless conservatism."--Fred Block, University of California, DavisReese, Ellen is the author of 'Backlash against Welfare Mothers Past and Present', published 2005 under ISBN 9780520244610 and ISBN 0520244613.