Preface
Introduction
pt. 1. The golden age of laissez-faire? : the 50s
1. The 1950s : limited government, limited affluence
pt. 2. Wars on poverty : the 60s
2. Planning the war on poverty : fixing the poor or fixing the economy?
3. Evaluating the war on poverty : the conservatism of liberalism
4. Moynihan, the dissenters, and the racialization of poverty : a liberal turning point that did not turn
5. Statistics and theory of unemployment and poverty : lessons from the 60s and the postwar era
pt. 3. Toward a war on the poor : the 70s and 80s
6. The politics of poverty and welfare in the 70s : from Nixon to Carter
7. Too much work ethic : one reason poverty rates stopped falling in the 70s, and the stories that were told about it
8. Cutting poverty or cutting welfare : conservatives attack liberalism
9. Reagan, Reaganomics, and the American poor, 1980-1992
pt. 4. The poor you will always have with you - if you don't do the right thing : 1993-present
10. Staying poor in the Clinton boom : welfare reform, the nearby labor force, and the limits of the work ethic
11. Bush and beyond : on solving and not solving poverty


Appendix 1 : Unemployment, poverty, earnings, and household structure
Appendix 2 : Groups often left out of antipoverty discussions in the 60s and today
Notes
Bibliographical essay
Index.