Though poorhouses (sometimes also known as almshouses or poor farms) were around United States' history for nearly four centuries, there has been little written about them. Not only was this institution critical to the history of social welfare and the poor but also for the disabled, correctional institutions, and aged. The book not only reviews history, but it analyzes how institutional care has in recent years regained its dominance in social welfare....

The author compares the current "temperance "movements (against drugs, smoking, alcohol, teen pregnancy, pornography, fatty foods, and even politically incorrect language) with similar movements in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The book addresses why the new campaigns emerged after the supposed freer days of the 1960s, and why these issues are popular in America.

This is the first history of the three progressive movements in the twentieth and twentieth-first century: The original Progressives primarily in the first two decades of the twentieth century; the Popular Front progressives of the 1930s and 1940s; and recent progressives in the Democratic Party from Jesse Jackson to Bernie Sanders. Although characterized by much rhetoric, none of these movements have broken out of the reformist bounds of liberalism....

Revenge is a dish best served cold When an old college friend leading a religious tour in Assisi asks interpreter Rick Montoya to fill in for their guide who's gone missing, Rick is happy to oblige. He's looking forward to seeing his old friend, and the food and wine of Umbria sound like the perfect reward for a tense translation job he's just completed for the police in Palermo involving witness testimony against the mafia. But when the shady...

David Wagner explores the lives of poor people during the three decades after the Civil War, using a unique treasure of biographies of people who were (at one point in time) inmates in a large almshouse, combined with genealogical and other official records to follow their later lives. Ordinary People develops a more fluid picture of "poverty" as people's lives change over the course of time.

"When an old college friend leading a religious tour in Assisi asks interpreter Rick Montoya to fill in for their guide who's gone missing, Rick is happy to oblige. He's looking forward to seeing his old friend, and the food and wine of Umbria sound like the perfect reward for a tense translation job he's just completed for the police in Palermo involving witness testimony against the mafia. But when the shady tour guide is found dead the next morning...

"Astrologically inclined cozy fans will find a lot to like."-Publishers Weekly Someone is bumping off rock's wrinkled royalty. The latest victim? Freddie Finger, 63-year-old lead singer for Rocket Fire. Seeking answers, Freddie's daughter, movie actress Vivian Younger, retains astrologer detective David Lowell to help catch her father's killer. Freddie wasn't well liked, and Lowell has plenty of suspects. Among them are Freddie's ex-wives, who seem...

Sensational crime, intrepid reporter, deaths too close to home… Seeing Sammy "the Bull" Gravano strut through a Phoenix restaurant shocks investigative reporter Joya Bonner. The notorious Mafia hitman-nineteen murders and FBI snitch-his testimony sent Godfather John Gotti to prison-is hidden in the federal Witness Protection Program, yet here he is, visible in public and clearly up to something. Joya's instincts for a hot story kick in despite...

The first Tuscan book in David P. Wagner's Italian mysteries introduces us to Rick Montoya, an American translator who agrees to help catch art smugglers-and soon finds himself in over his head. "Perfect for readers who enjoy a complex puzzle, a bit of humor, and a fairly gentle procedural. Don't miss this one."-Library Journal, STARRED review When Rick Montoya moves to Italy to work as a translator, he doesn't expect to get involved in an investigation....

"Ike Schwartz outing combines high-tech detection with routine sleuthing" -Booklist Ruth Harris, Sherriff Ike Schwartz's fiancée, is involved in a near fatal automobile accident. But Ike is convinced the crash was rigged. Even though he is embroiled in a close election, has no jurisdiction over the investigation, and can find no support in the usual law enforcement community, he places himself on leave and goes rogue to investigate and seek the...