JAMES R. ANDERSON is Professor of History at Michigan State University, where he has taught since 1967. He has assisted with technical elements of historic preservation work of the Archives of Michigan.

• Contents List of Tables and Charts Introduction, by James R. Anderson Foreword I. Introduction II. Relief Situation Prior to the CWA Period III. Advent of the CWA: Organization IV. The Launching of CWA Enterprise V. Projects Executed VI. CWA Administrative Activities VII. FERA Activities VIII. CWA in Detroit and Wayne County IX. Accomplishments and Results of the Michigan CWA Afterword: The Living Legacy of the CWA, by James R. Anderson

“James R. Anderson has done a masterful job framing the experience of the Civil Works Administration and showing how investing in paying people to work, rather than giving them direct relief, was the difference that truly mattered to poverty eradication and rebuilding morale in Depression-ravaged Michigan. This volume is a valuable read for anyone who wants a real taste for what it meant to be ‘on the ground’ across our state in the early 1930s.”—JOHN P. BECK, cofounder and codirector of Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives and Associate Professor, MSU School of Human Resources andLabor Relations