Poverty Knowledge

Reviews / Votes

"One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2001" "In this thoroughly researched and clearly written book, O'Conner offers a comprehensive look at the changing ways American experts have thought about poverty in the 20th Century. . . . A rewarding read." * Library Journal * "O'Connor provides the most up-to-date history of poverty and welfare in the US in this highly recommended [book]. . . . Her argument is unique, controversial, and convincing." * Choice * "Poverty Knowledge has many strengths. It is a well-written analysis by a historian with substantial experience in the not-for-profit organizations that funded and substantively influenced much of the production of poverty knowledge over the past two decades. . . . The descriptive materials alone will make this book an essential addition to the history of the social sciences. . . [It] will be essential reading for historians of the social and policy sciences."---Robert F. Kelly, Contemporary Sociology "O'Connor's book surpasses previous accounts of American approaches to poverty and makes a very significant contribution to critical writing on the welfare state."---Ruth Crocker, American Historical Review "A book that should be read by everyone engaged in poverty knowledge and social policy."---Deborah L. Little, American Journal of Sociology "This deeply researched and panoramic book is intellectual history at its best."---Thomas Jackson, The Historian "A brief review cannot do justice to the richness and subtlety of this fine study. . . . [O'Connor's] argument is on the whole deeply compelling: over the course of the twentieth century, poverty knowledge became, despite the best intentions of its liberal practitioners, a partisan tool for those seeking to control, marginalize, or dismiss the claims of the poor, not for those working to end poverty."---Sonya Michel, Isis