An intimate, wrenching, beautifully-rendered portrait of the three Bronx women and their families that elucidates the bigger picture of welfare policy and reform in the United States.
"A journalist follows the lives of three very different Bronx families as they attempt to find sustainable employment before the expiration of their welfare benefits. In 1996, President Clinton signed a bill that changed the existing structure of welfare....As more and more families left the welfare rolls, Hancock...became interested in uncovering the stories behind this seemingly good news....Hancock exposes the culture of welfare-for both caseworker and client-as an environment that demands personal responsibility, while at the same time infantilizing its clients....An eloquent, affecting look at the faces behind the statistics."
-Kirkus Reviews (starred review)--Jonathan Kozol
