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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 Alice O'Connor knows more about the social science literature on poverty than any other historian in America. No one has put the whole story together as she has. Her conclusions emerge as nuanced, sophisticated, and sound. Her book is also written with exceptional clarity and grace. It will supercede all other histories of poverty knowledge in the United States that deal with the twentieth century. --Michael Katz, University of Pennsylvania Poverty Knowledge is an insightful and incisive account of poverty research since the nineteenth century. Alice O'Connor's disgust with the use of research to stigmatize the poor comes through powerfully and clearly. Critical history at its best, the book should also be read by sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, economists, and welfare and antipoverty researchers--as well as teachers in these fields. --Herbert J. Gans, Columbia University There is nothing like this superb history and assessment of systematic social science concerned with poverty. Written by a historian with uncommon vantages on policy ideas, the book powerfully situates what, and how, we know within the dynamics of ideology, power, and interest that have characterized twentieth-century American liberalism. Richly researched and arrestingly composed, it informs policy history as well as options for the future. --Ira Katznelson, Columbia Univeristy In this strongly argued, deeply researched, and very well-written book, Alice O'Connor lays bare the narrowness of social 'science' concerning poverty in American life since the progressive era. Neither liberals nor conservatives escape her informed, tough-minded critique. --James T. Patterson, Brown University Poverty Knowledge is the most important analysis of the evolution of poverty knowledge ever published. Alice O'Connor's book is must reading for those who seek a comprehensive understanding of past and current social science writings on American poverty. Moreover, it provides a new vision that inextricably links the study of poverty to the broader study of political economy. This book will be discussed and debated for many years. --William Julius Wilson, Harvard University 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 This deeply researched and panoramic book is intellectual history at its best.---Thomas Jackson, The Historian A book that should be read by everyone engaged in poverty knowledge and social policy.---Deborah L. Little, American Journal of 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 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 One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2001

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.

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. One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2001 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 This deeply researched and panoramic book is intellectual history at its best. --Thomas Jackson, The Historian A book that should be read by everyone engaged in poverty knowledge and social policy. --Deborah L. Little, American Journal of 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 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 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 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 One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2001

Author Information

Alice O'Connor was formerly the Assistant Director of the Project on Social Welfare and the American Future at the Ford Foundation, the Director for the Programs on Persistent Urban Poverty and International Migration at the Social Science Research Council, a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago, and a Visiting Scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation. She is currently Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

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