Winning the War on Poverty

<b>Applying lessons from history to the reality of poverty today in the United States-the most affluent country in the world-this book analyzes contributing factors to poverty and proposes steps to relieve people affected by it.</b><br/><br/>American history is replete with efforts to alleviate poverty. While some efforts have resulted in at least partial success others have not because poverty is a multifaceted complicated phenomenon with no simple solution. <i>Winning the War on Poverty</i> studies the history of poverty relief efforts in the United States dating to the 19th century debunking misperceptions about the poor and tackling the problem of the ever-widening gap between the rich and poor. It highlights the ideological differences between liberal and conservative beliefs and includes insights drawn from a well-rounded group of disciplines including political science history sociology economics and public health. <br/><br/>Premised on the idea that only the lessons of history can help policymakers recognize that the United States has a persistent poverty problem that is much worse than it is in many other democracies the book suggests an 18-point plan to substantively address this dilemma. Its vision for reform does not pander to any particular ideology or political party; rather this book explains how the United States can win the war on poverty in the short term.