A New History of Social Welfare (4th Edition)

Rating:
Summary: review of Phyllis Day's revised social work history
Review: Day has produced one of the best social welfare histories. It is up to date with current laws and practices. It also focuses on non-western and Third World origins of social welfare. That is a nice change from the usual focus on history. A good source for students, both graduate and undergraduate.

Rating:
Summary: A Paradigm Shifting Text
Review: The reviewer's comments from San Diego are not surprising. I had Dr. Day for two semesters of Social Policy in an MSW program. Her approach was provocative, challenging, and controversial. I witnessed some students storm out of the classroom in response to her lectures.

This text will challenge the fundamental beliefs that students hold most treasured; especially the first chapter. This text is designed to get people thinking about the way we approach poverty as a whole. She's not telling people what to think but encouraging them to think. As a result some individuals will miss the point and experience tremendous difficulty with her text.

With that in mind I would highly recommend this book. It provides the most comprehensive approaches to social welfare that I have seen yet.

Rating:
Summary: I thought this book was junk.
Review: This book nearly cost me my MSW. Sure, the book adequately potrays social welfare policy from a historical perspective, but the writing is jumbled, confusing, repetitive, and Day writes with SUCH a liberal slant you begin to wonder wether she is writing a book or running a political party. Skip this book.