Three Worlds of Relief:
Race, Immigration, and the American Welfare State from the Progressive Era to the New Deal
Cybelle Fox

Book Description | Table of Contents
Chapter 1 [in PDF format]

ADDITIONAL ENDORSEMENTS:

"Cybelle Fox's Three Worlds of Relief demonstrates that U.S. social policies in their formative years provided disparate treatment by race and ethnicity. Political, labor-market, and racial contexts advantaged European immigrants and disadvantaged African Americans and Mexican immigrants. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the origins of the uneven U.S. welfare state, its race and ethnic politics, and political dilemmas today."--Edwin Amenta, University of California, Irvine

"Three Worlds of Relief is an original study that significantly enhances our understanding of the historical boundaries of social citizenship in the United States. Cybelle Fox reveals how different political systems and race and labor market relations in three separate regions of the country resulted in profoundly dissimilar experiences for blacks, Mexicans, and European immigrants in the American welfare system. This insightful book is a must-read."--William Julius Wilson, Harvard University

"Three Worlds of Relief is a tour de force of historical analysis that presents a bold reinterpretation of U.S. welfare provision during the early decades of the twentieth century. I know of no work that offers a more compelling account of how poor relief in this era was shaped by the interplay of race, immigration, and political economy. Emphasizing regional differences across a decentralized system, Cybelle Fox challenges longstanding assumptions in U.S. welfare scholarship. Her study is a major contribution to the field."--Joe Soss, University of Minnesota

"Rigorously researched, clearly argued, and written with verve and style, Three Worlds of Relief is a pathbreaking study of the interplay of race, labor, and politics in the building of America's welfare state. Fox brings a fresh and important new perspective to the study of American political development that could not be more timely. This is an excellent book."--Robert C. Lieberman, author of Shaping Race Policy

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File created: 5/16/2013

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