| List of Illustrations | |
| List of Tables and Figures | |
| Preface | |
| Introduction: Paradoxes of American Social Policy | 3 |
| Ch. 1 | An Institutional Politics Theory of Social Policy | 18 |
| Ch. 2 | An Indifferent Commitment to Modern Social Policy, 1880-1934 | 54 |
| Ch. 3 | America's First Welfare Reform, 1935-1936 | 80 |
| Ch. 4 | Consolidating the Work and Relief Policy, 1937-1939 | 122 |
| Ch. 5 | Some Little New Deals Are Littler than Others | 162 |
| Ch. 6 | Redefining the New Deal, 1940-1950 | 191 |
| Ch. 7 | A Welfare State for Britain | 231 |
| Conclusion | 250 |
| Afterword | 270 |
| Notes | 273 |
| Initials of Organizations and Programs | 331 |
| Sources of Illustrations | 333 |
| Index | 335 |
