Description
Book SynopsisRenaissance debates about politics and gender led to pioneering forms of poor relief, devised to help women get a start in life. These included orphanages for illegitimate children and forced labor in workhouses, but also women’s shelters and early forms of maternity benefits, unemployment insurance, food stamps, and credit union savings plans.
Trade ReviewThis sweeping exploration of early modern poor relief shows how Bologna became a model for other cities in meeting the challenge of female poverty across the life cycle. By putting gender squarely at the center of analysis, Terpstra brilliantly illuminates how widespread concerns for poor women and girls sparked innovative networks of care aimed at both charity and discipline. -- Sharon Strocchia, Emory University
Terpstra's intimate and human study of Bologna's attempts to deal with the life cycle of poverty—especially that of women—provides a virtual comparative history of the troubled relationship between rich and poor in early modern Europe. This is the new social and cultural history at its best—rich with significant findings, livened with everyday human details, and sensitively evoked by a master historian. -- Guido Ruggiero, University of Miami
