'This volume makes an important and interesting argument about Enlightenment ideas of poverty, and will inspire future studies that probe its main arguments in broader European and even global contexts. The wish of the editors to stimulate discussion beyond intellectual history – with social and cultural historians and social scientists – is well justified'Ere Nokkala, European History Quarterly'Many of the studies collected in this volume provide enlightening examples of the value of bringing the methods and concerns of intellectual history to bear upon social historical terrain, and the various ways ideas informed practices of collective poor relief prior to the 1790s, setting the stage for further inquiry of the discussion of poverty in the European Enlightenment.'Nicholas B. Miller, Intellectual History Review'This excellent volume greatly improves our understanding of the continuities and differences in ideas of poverty between the eighteenth and the nineteenth century... an indispensable foundation for further research on poverty in Enlightenment thought.'Thomas Ahnert, Histoire sociale/Social History