What Makes Charity Work?: A Century of Public and Private Philanthropy

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Myron Magnet may be best known as one of the minds behind the "compassionate conservatism" of George W. Bush. His book The Dream and the Nightmare is said to be required reading in Bush circles, and it has informed much of what the Texas governor has tried to accomplish on the campaign trail and in office. Now comes What Makes Charity Work?--a collection of articles from City Journal, a low-circulation but highly influential magazine published by the right-of-center Manhattan Institute and edited by Magnet. The book's main theme is that public charity--the $5 trillion "war on poverty" and other government assistance programs--has been catastrophic. Traditional charity programs, writes Magnet in an introduction, promoted personal responsibility and self-reliance. During the 1960s, however, the public sector assumed a much larger role in aiding the poor. The result was devastating, as welfare programs taught the needy that they were victims of social forces outside their control and failed to give them the tools necessary for improving their lives. A fundamental problem, as one contributor puts it, was that "America jettisoned its traditional distinction between the deserving and the undeserving poor." What Makes Charity Work? examines this transformation before, during, and after it took place in a series of articles on everything from how Catholic charities served Irish Americans during the 19th century to a history of the Boy Scouts to an analysis of how pro-bono legal aid has evolved. Authors include Brian Anderson, Kay Hymowitz, Sol Stern, and City Journal's in-house reporting star, Heather Mac Donald (The Burden of Bad Ideas). There is a focus on New York City throughout the volume, but the lessons Magnet and his team of writers impart deserve an audience across the United States. One thing is certain: the "compassionate conservatives" will be taking notice. --John J. Miller


From Publishers Weekly
Influenced by "practical visionaries" such as Carnegie, Rockefeller and Ford, America began the 20th century with a judicious commitment to help those among the less fortunate who were most willing to help themselves. A century later, argues Mac Donald, a journalist and John M. Olin fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, we are gripped in a choke hold by liberal social programs plagued by massive, systemic problems. In this crisp and well-argued collection of essays, she wonders why we tolerate generations raised on welfare, reinforce teen pregnancy (by, for example, providing day-care centers at high schools) and accept public schools where the three Rs are overlooked so that kids can work on perfecting their graffiti. Instead of blaming all of society's ills on a perceived insensitivity to diversification (e.g., racism and sexism), why don't we investigate what happened to individual responsibility? she asks. She swiftly and deliberately attacks liberal individuals and institutions of every stripeAfrom the most influential philanthropists to the leading public health institutions to the ivory towers of academia and the media, particularly the New York Times, which in her view not only reports the news but also creates itAwith the aim of exposing the flaws in their philosophies and the drastic, real-world consequences of their actions. Mac Donald's incisive insights deserve the thoughtful attention of voters of all political affiliations this election year. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Most of the 12 essays collected here first appeared in City Journal, an urban affairs publication of the Manhattan Institute, where Mac Donald is a fellow. In each, she lambastes "today's elite intellectual orthodoxy," as manifested by institutions such as the Ford Foundation, the New York Times, Teachers College, the Smithsonian Institution, law schools, and a variety of agencies carrying out public policy in such areas as welfare, foster care, and homelessness. She finds excesses of liberalism everywhere and holds liberal policies responsible for self-perpetuating poverty, racial and cultural politics, school failure, and other forms of malaise. While her examples are shocking and her style sometimes clever, after a point Mac Donald's chapters seem like templates, the details different but the formula the same: one easy target after another set up and then knocked down. Readers who already agree with Mac Donald will be entertained; others will quickly put the book away. Both groups would do better with a wittier and richer work of social criticism such as Culture of Complaint (LJ 3/15/93) by Robert Hughes, who makes some of the same points. An optional purchase.ARobert F. Nardini, Chichester, NH Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Tom Wolfe
City Journal is the great Fool Killer in the arena of urban policy. It’s more than sharp and penetrating.


Bill Moyers
Even when I disagree with City Journal, I dare not ignore it.


George Will
City Journal is consistently the most stimulating source of reporting and analysis.


John Norquist, Mayor, City of Milwaukee
It is the definitive forum for the best new ideas in urban government.


Book Description
This book shows in concrete and compelling detail how government assistance to the poor is doomed to failure.


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City Journal is consistently the most stimulating source of reporting and analysis. — George Will


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