Miss Cutler and the Case of the Resurrected Horse: Social Work and the Story of Poverty in America, Australia, and Britain (Historical Studies of Urban America)

Social workers produced thousands of case files about the poor during the interwar years. Analyzing almost two thousand such case files and traveling from Boston, Minneapolis, and Portland to London and Melbourne, Miss Cutler and the Case of the Resurrected Horse is a pioneering comparative study that examines how these stories of poverty were narrated and reshaped by ethnic diversity, economic crisis, and war. Probing the similarities and differences in the ways Americans, Australians, and Britons understood and responded to poverty, Mark Peel draws a picture of social work that is based in the sometimes fraught encounters between the poor and their interpreters. He uses dramatization to bring these encounters to life—joining Miss Cutler and that resurrected horse are Miss Lindstrom and the fried potatoes and Mr. O’Neil and the seductive client—and to give these people a voice. Adding new dimensions to the study of charity and social work, this book is essential to understanding and tackling poverty in the twenty-first century. Melbourne. Case 1: Miss Cutler and the case of the resurrected horse Service, sympathy, and efficiency Mr. Smith and the importance of modern casework Wise discrimination Lady detectives There are those who feel their position But most will never better themselves A growing sense of justice The citizens' welfare London. Case 2: Miss Hedges and the stupid client The man with the repulsive face We are at a crossroads They are somewhere down the stairs Little people Dense and low grade, but still he builds great castles in the air Nightmare days Boston. Case 3: Miss Wells and the boy who wanted to be an American Changing jerzy Closed mouths and wise guys She has found herself, and he will make a good American The primitive becoming more and more dominant More sinned against than sinning Minneapolis. Case 4: Miss Lindstrom and the fried potatoes The discovery and the remedy He is too willing for us to assume responsibility His attitude of helplessness is exasperating An insecurity of terrifying proportions Oregon. Case 5: Miss Perry and the boy who knew numbers Policing relief Evasive types and plausible women Into the backwoods Men in social work. Case 6: Mr. O'Neill and the seductive client In a woman's world He must be bent to our will and made into a man Confronting the nagger Mr. O'Neill and Mr. Mattner.