Heather's review
American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation's Drive to End Welfare by Jason DeParle
When I first looked at this book, I thought I would be reading a slim, smart, and satisfyingly written polemic about the nation's attitude towards poor women and poverty. Imagine Barbara Ehrenreich with a little less humor and a few more bulletpoints.
But "American Dream" is not so much a polemic as a balanced account of the history of welfare and the recent changes in the system. Don't get me wrong - it's still freakin' disturbing. Parle begins the origins of welfare and moves us to the present, alternating his history with three personal stories of women currently on welfare. From both his history and anecdotes, we do see traces of a culture dependent upon welfare. Many of the people on welfare do work but need supplemental income. Yet welfare's originally intentions were to lift people out of poverty - and welfare, ironically, grounded people even more deeply in. Still, when Clinton signed his welfare reform act in 1996, little (sensical) was done to help those lef...more
But "American Dream" is not so much a polemic as a balanced account of the history of welfare and the recent changes in the system. Don't get me wrong - it's still freakin' disturbing. Parle begins the origins of welfare and moves us to the present, alternating his history with three personal stories of women currently on welfare. From both his history and anecdotes, we do see traces of a culture dependent upon welfare. Many of the people on welfare do work but need supplemental income. Yet welfare's originally intentions were to lift people out of poverty - and welfare, ironically, grounded people even more deeply in. Still, when Clinton signed his welfare reform act in 1996, little (sensical) was done to help those lef...more
