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to JasonDeParle.com |
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American
Dream by Jason DeParle |
Bill Clinton
vowed to "end welfare as we know it" in 1992. Four years later,
Congress translated a catchy slogan into a law that sent nine million women and
children streaming from the rolls. Did it work? In his definitive book on this
unprecedented upheaval in social policy, New York Times reporter and two-time
Pulitzer Prize finalist Jason DeParle follows three women in one extended family
to a set of surprising answers. Cutting between
the corridors of Washington and the meanest streets of Milwaukee, DeParle
tracks the story from the White House to the local crack house. After twelve years
on welfare, Angie, a truculent mother of three, finds a job and a 401 (k)--and
a boyfriend who tries to shoot her. Her cousin Jewell, glamorous even in sweatpants,
adores the children she struggles to support. Opal combines an antic wit with
an appetite for cocaine while the welfare agency that is supposed to help her
squanders its millions. Drawing on more than a decade
of reporting, DeParle traces their story back six generations to a common
ancestor--a Mississippi slave--and adds politicians, case workers, reformers,
and rogues to an epic exploration of America's struggle with poverty and dependency. |
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Book
Reviews |
"Courageous and deeply disturbing...transcend[s]
journalism...DeParle challenges the nation."
New
York Times - September 26, 2004
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"A
powerful, bracing antidote...masterful detail."
Los
Angeles Times - September 17, 2004
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"DeParle
brilliantly captures this gritty reality....It might even become an instant classic
along the lines of Anthony Lukas' 'Common Ground'.''
New
Orleans Times Picayune - September 26, 2004
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"Exhaustively
researched and eloquently reported....clear-headed, deeply sensitive, and richly
informative.''
San Jose
Mercury News - September 19, 2004
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"DeParle
relates with authority and grace the compelling stories of Angela Jobe, Jewell
Reed and Opal Caples, common descendants of a Mississippi slave, who bring their
families to Milwaukee, a place DeParle calls "the epicenter of the anti-welfare
crusade."
The
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - September 11, 2004
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"In
its melding of storytelling, reporting, and history, it’s reminiscent of
J. Anthony Lukas’s Common Ground, about busing in Boston."
The Washingtonian - September 23, 2004
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"nuanced
and compelling....as complex as the subject warrants...the women's journey has
an achetypal character."
The New
York Times - November 3, 2004
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"richly
researched, beautifully written."
Mother
Jones - September-October 2004
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"reads like an epic novel."
The
New York Post - October 10, 2004
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"beautifully written....important....the narrative
really crackles.''
The New Republic
- October 7, 2004
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"a panoramic view...starkly honest....a humorous,
emotional story that is exhaustive in detail and scope.''
The
Boston Globe - October 13, 2004
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"a
superb piece of reporting and narrative...his stories simmer on the page....DeParle
offers a highly complex response to the welfare debate that....reveal[s] a great
deal about the economic landscape.''
Dissent
- Summer 2004
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"a dramatic and moving journey...told through
three amazing women.''
Townhall.com
- Week of October 24-31, 2004
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"DeParle connects the personal and political
... with a keen eye and an even more remarkable pen.....I would like to hear DeParle
tell the whole story all over again.''
The
American Prospect - November 2004
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"Jason
DeParle is a brave man and a great talent...[T]errific fun to read. Yes, a book
about welfare reform that is fun to read.''
Detroit
Free Press - November 14, 2004
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"Jason
DeParle brings together two groups of people who rarely seem to meet: welfare
policy-makers and welfare recipients..''
The
Nation - December 20, 2004
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"Historically,
lawmakers and social activists have focused on the plight of poor single women,
most often the only caregivers to the children in their lives.''
Times-Picayune
- February 18, 2005
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| Book
excerpts | Raising
Kevion
New
York Times Magazine - August 22, 2004
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The
most inspired employee in America's most lauded welfare agency can barely do his
job.
Washington
Monthly - September 2004
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Reform's
realities - One mom's struggle during welfare transition show pitfals on road
to american dream
Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel - September 5, 2004
Welfare
reform brings work but not orderly family life mother craves
Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel - September 6, 2004
Q&A with Jason DeParle
Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel - September 4, 2004
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A
Welfare Mom's Moral Dilemma
www.Beliefenet.com
- September 23, 2004-
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Preview
the first chapter of American Dream at the Center for American Progress - First
Chapters Library:
American
Dream - Chapter one
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|
On
the air |
Audio/Video:
A report by Paul Solman of WGBH-Boston about families,
especially single mothers, trying to get off welfare and into the work force in
part one of a two-part series.
PBS,
NewsHour - February 14, 2005
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Audio:
Jason DeParle with NPR's Scott Simon.
Weekend
Edition - 12/04/2004
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Audio:
Jason DeParle on NPR's “Fresh Air”.
Fresh
Air - 09/20/2004
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Audio:
NPR Boston - Inside Welfare Reform
On
Point - 09/22/2004
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Audio:
introduction, presentation, first panel and Q&A
www.brook.edu
- September 22, 2004
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Video:
Interview with Jason DeParle 9/14/2004
Kaiser Family Foundation Broadcast Studio,
Washington, D.C.
Video |
View
Transcrpt (pdf)
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Audio:
The Diane Rehm Show
WAMU,
Washington, D.C. Public Radio - October 27, 2004
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Audio:
Forum with Michael Krasny
KQED,
San Francisco Public Radio - October 18, 2004
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Audio:
Eight Forty Eight with Steve Edwards
WBEZ,
Chicago Public Radio - October 1, 2004
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Audio:
Ben Merens
Wisconsin
Public Radio - October 20, 2004
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Audio:
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
KCUR,
Kansas City Public Radio - November 8, 2004
| Commentaries
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