American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation's Drive to End Welfare

I assigned "American Dream" in a senior seminar I taught in the fall 2005 semester on Children's Health, Education & Welfare. My students went out of their way to convey to me how much they loved this book. I did too. Books on welfare reform tend to fall into either the numbing statistical variety (very academic) or emotional and anecdotal variety. DeParle's book is that rare one that combines both varieties with exceptional writing. Few academics write as well as DeParle and few journalists know as much as he does about welfare reform. For my money, this is one of the very best books on public policy, generally, and welfare reform, specifically. There are also 2 excellent PBS Newshour segments available online that profile both DeParle and the lives of the people he chronicles. Together with the book, the PBS segments make for a great week or two of teaching welfare reform.

Two minutes after cracking open 'American Dream' you realize that Jason DeParle is a phenomenal writer. But even more important, he's got an incredible story to tell: the story of how welfare reform took on a momentum never before known in our country and how the changes it wrought impacted the lives of very real women and their families. In his book, DeParle asks the difficult questions: Has welfare reform improved the lives of families formerly on welfare? Has the experience of children seeing their mothers going to work had a positive influence on their lives? Has outsourcing the management of caseloads to for-profit companies proven to be a success? What can be done to motivate far more men to pursue well-paying jobs and remain an integral part of their children's lives? DeParle doesn't come up with any easy answers, though he tells the story of welfare reform and its impact in a powerfully compelling way -- from an historial standpoint, from a public policy standpoint and from the personal standpoints of those who sought work after their welfare benefits ran out. What I found most compelling were the very human portraits of the women he profiles -- Angie, Jewel and Opal. I was moved, educated and motivated by this book. Definitely a must buy -- and do go and share it with your friends and family.

In American Dream DeParle provides us with a historical overview of welfare policy from the signing of the Social Security Act in 1935 to the Signing of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. Against this backdrop he interweaves the personal narratives of three single mom's who are trying to make their way on, through and off of welfare, while juggling the complexities of the social and political economy of welfare, work-fare (workfirst) and the warfare of the streets. Trying to assess if we have, in fact, "ended welfare as we know it," DeParle boldly challenges the nation to push beyond its stereotypic one-dimensional view of welfare moms as largely African American, lazy, angry, single mothers eager to manipulate and get over on the system. Instead, DeParle does something really astounding...he tells us the truth-no filters, no screens, no smoke and mirrors, just the truth-a real picture of real women who are strong, and determined, and yes, angry, and also creative and frightened and proud and resilient. Women working really hard at trying to make sense of their own personal truth, their life experiences on welfare, and figuring out how to survive it. It's not necessarily a pretty picture, but it's a real picture, and it's an honest picture. And, for those who grew up in poverty and on welfare, it provides an opportunity to redeem their past with a sense of dignity and integrity. This is a must read for anyone interested in government, politics, welfare policy and the truth about life in the subculture of poverty in America.

Even though I am an avid reader, I have never written a customer book review before. However, this book proved to be a thoroughly interesting read as well as a thoughtful and provoking look inside the lives of people most directly impacted by Welfare Reform - and served as a clear starting point for reflections. The descriptions of the activities within the beltway, as well as within the three women's homes, serve to bring `wonk' material to a very real level. With extraordinary (seven-years!) of personal and policy research, the book should be read by all who are involved in making and re-making human service policy, as well as those of us who vote for them.

Jason de Parle has constructed here an in-depth look at social policy and its effect on the lives of the urban poor during the late '90s and '00s. Thorough, thoughtful, well-researched, and not beholden to any ideological position, de Parle has examined all aspects of welfare and policy, including situating it in its historical context. His insights will both please and offend those of both liberal and conservative bents, which is a good sign that he's doing something right, and as he demonstrates how policy decisions set at the top do--and don't--impact those actually living them, the reader comes to know and feel for his informants. This is a good starting place for those interested in learning about social policy and welfare reform.