Books : The War on the Poor: A Defense Manual
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by: Randy Albelda, Nancy Folbre
Amazon.com's Price: $12.95 Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.50973
EAN: 9781565842625
ISBN: 1565842626
Label: New Press
Manufacturer: New Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 142
Publication Date: 1996-05
Publisher: New Press
Sales Rank: 1295781
Studio: New Press
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
The War on the Poor counters attacks on the poor in the same lively, accessible style that made The New Field Guide to the U.S. Economy a cult classic. Using charts, graphs, and political cartoons, The War on the Poor presents topics including middle-class welfare, 'family' values, child support, teen poverty, the minimum wage, the underclass, orphanages, health, hunger, corporate welfare, block grants, private charity, work requirements, and incentives. It includes a comprehensive resource list of addresses and phone numbers of activist groups, lobbying organizations, information sources, and media contacts.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Worthless
What could be easier than a refutation of the canards of right wing opponents of social programs like Rush Limbaugh and other rightist commentators of the 1990s? Not much, but the authors fail at this easy task.
Their method is to take some right wing comment, and present irrelevant statistics that seem to vaguely have something to do with the claim and act like it refutes it.
Look at page 68, for example. As the "myth" they quote some right wing commentator saying that ... Read More
Rating: - Interesting Subject, Poor Analysis
The War on the Poor is an interesting subject and somewhat provides evidence against certain myths about the poor, welfare, health care, children, teen mothers, balancing the budget, the minimum wage, etc. It is set up in a Myth/Reality format where two pages are dedicated to each myth and then the reality of the issue is argued with statistics. Unfortunatley, frequently the statistics have nothing to do with the myth or faulty conclusions are reached from the information given. In someplaces, ... Read More
Rating:  - Objectives met by authors
The objective of this book seems to have been to provide a bullet presentation regarding the issue of poverty, those on welfare and alternatives. Despite the fact that the reader may disagree with it's assertions and conclusions, one cannot argue that the authors did a good job in meeting their objectives. The book is written in such a way that the lay person can clearly understand points being made. Although there is always some compromising of the "facts" when presented in a simplistic way, it nevertheless ... Read More
Rating:  - not terribly insightful
The difficulty of any book of this sort is the same that plagues any attempt to hold up statistical inequalities of one form or another and draw certain conclusions from them. What's more bothersome about this book, however, is it's tone. Page after page we are treated to notion that the reason there is suffering in the world is because those who don't agree with the ideology of the authors are cruel, uncaring, unfeeling, or just plain stupid. The assertion incessantly implied is that their ideological adversaries ... Read More
Rating:  - The Silenced Finally Get a Chance....
I read this book for my Race, Class, and Gender course in college in which we deconstructed the institutions of our "fabulous" society to see what was really happening behind the scenes of democracy. "The War on the Poor: A Defense Manual" was a fantastic resource in doing so. The working class and welfare recipients in our society are silenced and horribly labeled, treated as the "under class". "Rightists" and "fundamentalists" and "Rush Limbaugh Junkies" (for lack of more insulting terms) have created a society ... Read More
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