"Dave Stoesz combines direct and sometimes painful personal experience with a lifetime of deep scholarship to produce this imporant work on the future of the Welfare State in a post-industrial and increasingly unequal America." Phillip Longman, Policy Director, Open Markets Institute and Senior Editor, Washington Monthly."This is an essential one-volume look at America’s distinctive welfare state and the challenges it faces in a new era. Accessible enough for students, expert enough for scholars, and engaging enough for general readers, it is at once a cogent history of U.S. social policy and a compelling analysis of contemporary events. Drawing on his deep personal and academic insights, David Stoesz makes the case for a third wave of welfare state reforms that could bring us much closer to economic justice for all." Jacob S. Hacker, Yale University, USA, author of The Great Risk Shift and The Divided Welfare State.