Description: This book recounts the transformation of American poor relief in the decades spanning the New Deal and the War on Poverty.
Brief description: Karen Tani is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining the faculty at Berkeley, she received her J.D. and Ph.D. in history from the University of Pennsylvania and held prestigious fellowships at New York University and the University of Pennsylvania. Her work has appeared in leading law journals, including the Law and History Review and the Yale Law Journal, and has won awards from the American Society for Legal History, the Hellman Foundation, the William Nelson Cromwell Foundation, and the National Academy of Social Insurance. She coedits the Legal History Blog, the field's leading source for news and announcements.
Review Quotes: 'This book is a useful study of changes in assistance provided to poor people between the New Deal era and 1972, focusing on themes such as the development of rights language during the 1930s; the role of the New Deal in re-arranging powers of local, state, and the national government in providing assistance; the increasing reliance on law and the courts to legalize relief; and how these changes contributed to the rise of the modern American government ... Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals.' J. P. Sanson, Choice