Promotional Information

Makes a significant contribution to the field of philanthropic studies and the history of the United States in the twentieth century. The book is also a potent act of demystification, one that cuts nicely through the layered myths still surrounding the story of the foundations of American life. And it is as well a trenchant criticism of the 'tyranny' of the social sciences in recent thinking about philanthropy. -- Guy Alchon, University of Delaware Makes important contributions both to the history of American philanthropy and to specific controversies in the history of social work and state-society relations. I learned much that I hadn't known about foundation involvement in the areas of child welfare, sex education, physical education, and the promotion of organized play. -- Ellis Hawley, University of Iowa

About the Author

Judith Sealander is professor of history at Bowling Green State University. She is the author of As Minority Becomes Majority: Federal Reaction to the Phenomenon of Women in the Work Force, 1920-1963 and "Grand Plans": Business Progressivism and Social Change in the Ohio Miami Valley, 1890-1929, and co-author of Women of Valor: The Struggle against the Great Depression as Told in Their Own Life Stories.

Reviews

[Sealander] not only adds considerably to the history of philanthropy but enriches the historical understanding of the Progressive era. -- Michael S. Mayer American Historical Review