To Promote the General Welfare: The Case for Big Government - Softcover

Steven Conn is Professor and Director of Public History at Ohio State University. His books include Do Museums Still Need Objects?, Metropolitan Philadelphia: Living with the Presence of the Past, and History's Shadow: Native Americans and Historical Consciousness in the Nineteenth Century. He is the founding editor of the online magazine Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective.

"An impressive collection."--The Historian

"So effectively do these essays make 'the case for big government' that one is left wondering why the animus against government should be so strong in the United States today, if it has been so beneficial a force, and so generally respectful of popular antistatism...Conn and his colleagues reveal that contemporary advocates of smaller government are far less in tune with the reality of American political development than they imagine."--Journal of American History

"One of the greatest secrets of American history is that Americans have from the very beginning relied on government to improve their nation, help it grow, and make it more just. An energetic government is not simply consistent with keeping our country free, but actually essential to expanding our liberties and our personal possibilities. The authors make their arguments so clearly and so well that Tea Party members willing to grapple with To Promote the General Welfare might find themselves changing their minds. This is an excellent book that is also perfectly matched with our political moment."--E.J. Dionne, author of Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent

"To Promote the General Welfare injects a welcome note of realism into our hyperbolic public discourse. Because government in the United States has usually functioned out of sight, Americans have constructed a mythology of private enterprise and individualism and forgotten that the free market depends on the rule of law, state-funded infrastructure, and state-sponsored support of citizens' initiatives. From the earliest provision of security and infrastructure through social security and the GI Bill to medicare and middle-class housing, health, and education subsidies, these first-rate historians demonstrate that public-private partnerships have always been the American Way."--James Kloppenberg, Charles Warren Professor of American History, Harvard University

"The scholars brought together by Ohio State historian Conn persuasively demonstrate how the growth of 'big government' throughout the 20th century has benefited ordinary Americans so comprehensively and unobtrusively that they have often taken it for granted."--Publishers Weekly