Sweet Charity?: Emergency Food and the End of Entitlement

How the drive to end poverty has taken a wrong turn with thousands of well-meaning volunteers on board

In this era of eroding commitment to government sponsored welfare programs, voluntarism and private charity have become the popular, optimistic solutions to poverty and hunger. The resurgence of charity has to be a good thing, doesn't it? No, says sociologist Janet Poppendieck, not when stopgap charitable efforts replace consistent public policy, and poverty continues to grow.

In Sweet Char...