Synopses & Reviews
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.
About the Author
Nancy Folbre, a MacArthur Fellow, is professor emerita of economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She is the the author of
The Invisible Heart: Economics and Family Values and
Saving State U: Why We Must Fix Public Higher Education; a co-author, with Jonathan Teller-Elsberg, James Heintz, and the Center for Popular Economics, of
Field Guide to the U.S. Economy; and a co-author, with Randy Albelda, of
The War on the Poor: A Defense Manual, all published by The New Press. Her academic books include
For Love and Money: Care Provision in the U.S. and
Greed, Lust, and Gender: A History of Economic Ideas. She is a regular contributor to the
New York Times’s Economix blog.
Randy Albelda is an associate professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. She is the coauthor of Mink Coats Don’t Trickle Downand Bottomless Pits and Glass Ceilings.