Description
Book SynopsisThis book examines the connection between the decline of the orphanage and the rise of welfare in America. Matthew Crenson argues that the prehistory of the welfare system was played out not on the stage of national politics or class conflict but in the micropolitics of institutional management.
Trade ReviewThe virtue of Crenson's book is that it is a close examination of the sea change that brought the welfare system into existence in the first place. -- David Warsh * Boston Globe *
A valuable book, sure to leave its mark as an important and scholarly examination of the roots of American social policy, not without implication for today. -- Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Building the Invisible Orphanage is an extraordinary piece of scholarship. It is based on prodigious research and will doubtless alter debates about the origins and development of the American welfare state. It offers a stiff challenge to prevailing perspectives on the history of welfare in the United States. It will be roundly debated and future scholars will have to reckon with its findings. -- Robert C. Lieberman, Columbia University
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction The Decline of the Orphanage and the Invention of Welfare The Institutional Inclination Two Dimensions of Institutional Change Institutional Self-Doubt and Internal Reform From Orphanage to Home The Orphanage Reaches Outward "The Unwalled Institution of the State" The Perils of Placing Out "The Experiment of Having No Home" Mobilizing for Mothers' Pensions Religious Wars Conclusion: An End to the Orphanage Notes Index
