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Hardcover: 560 pages
Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc; 1 edition (December 15, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0761925848
ISBN-13: 978-0761925842

From Booklist
Here is a reference work that provides readers with information about the history of social welfare in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. According to the preface, the purpose of the encyclopedia is to give users basic information about how these three nations have dealt with social welfare issues, some shared and some unique, and “to describe important events, developments, and the lives and work of some key contributors.”

Social welfare is defined broadly to include areas of education, informal mutual assistance, development of the profession of social work, and both voluntary charitable activities and -government–supported public welfare. Editors Herrick and Stuart are social work professors at Michigan State University and the University of Alabama, respectively; they are joined by more than 160 contributors.

The 180 entries generally vary in length from one to just over four pages and include suggestions for further reading and, in some cases, collections of primary materials and “Current Comment,” which consists of lists of documents produced during the time described in the entry. Appendixes at the end of the book include a good chronology of social welfare events in each country, followed by a master bibliography and a well-constructed index with cross-references.

This encyclopedia has information in common with another recently published work, ABC-CLIO’s Poverty in the United States: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics and Policy (2004). There is also some overlap with another Sage publication, The Handbook of Social Welfare Management (2000). One unique strength of the title under review is its multinational perspective. Many topics, among them Food assistance policy, Philanthropy , and Social Security, are treated in separate entries for each country, making it easy to both focus on a particular country’s social welfare history and draw comparisons. The “Reader’s Guide” is also helpful in identifying entries associated with a specific nation, since it groups entries under Canada, Mexico, and United States, among other categories.

Although the quality of this encyclopedia is generally quite good, the issue for libraries is whether they can continue to justify the purchase of very specialized print encyclopedias. Recommended for those academic and public library collections where there is a specific need for basic information related to the history of social welfare in North America. Diana Shonrock

Review
“This book provides a consolidated historical time line that is inclusive of the unique contributions of urban and rural communities, immigrant and aboriginal peoples, and various social movements. The extensive chronologies are invaluable in that other sources often provide only limited time era or social welfare topic-specific chronologies.” (Donna McIntosh Multicultural Review 20050601)

“Here is a reference work that provides readers with information about the history of social welfare in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. . . . One strength of the title under review is its multinational perspective. . . . Recommended for those academic library collections where there is a specific need for basic information related to the history of social welfare in North America.” (Diana Shonrock BOOKLIST)