The revised and updated seventh edition of this text for students, scholars and policymakers takes into account the broad changes in federal assistance programmes since 1991. It reviews the erosion of entitlement programmes to families with dependent children, single-parent households, youth, veterans and the elderly. It looks particularly at the impact of the 1996 welfare reform which dramatically reconfigured the aid landscape. Following an examination of the characteristics of the American poor, the book analyzes four strategies of assistance programmes: income maintenance programmes directed mainly at the poor who are outside the workforce; programmes supplying goods and services; programmes designed to prevent the spread of poverty to new generations; and programmes to aid the working poor. The concluding chapter explores feasible approaches to the alleviation of poverty.