This examination of American welfare recipients aims to shatter many of the myths associated with the US welfare system and its participants. It considers why people turn to welfare, how they survive on welfare programmes, and what can be done by society to address the welfare issue.

By concentrating on a wide range of individuals and families, this study depicts a side of the welfare experience rarely seen and dispels the myth that only the urban underclass - the centre of most policy debate - struggles on welfare. Rank's use of numbers and faces alert us to the fact that welfare recipients share much in common with the rest of the population.