Keeping women and children last
by Ruth Sidel

As Ruth Sidel persuasively demonstrates, America, in its search for a post-Cold War enemy, has turned inward to target single mothers on welfare. Politicians have scapegoated and stigmatized female-headed families both as a method of social control and to divert attention from the severe problems that Americans face. Keeping Women and Children Last reveals the real victims of poverty - the millions of children who suffer from societal neglect, inferior education, inadequate health care, hunger, and homelessness. This new edition addresses the seismic shift in the welfare landscape since the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. "The end of welfare as we know it," shows Sidel, will only help to keep America's poor women and children last.