?This biographical dictionary features essays on approximately 330 people in the fields of welfare, social insurance, public and mental health, and child welfare in America. The subjects are the doers, not the givers and philosophers in the field of social welfare. The field is broadly defined to include such people as Cotton Mather, Benjamin Franklin, and Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as figures such as Jane Addams and Lillian Wald. More than a third of the biographees are women; the great majority of the people included are deceased. The alphabetically arranged entries are signed and feature the name, followed by birth and death dates, the essay, and a selected bibliography of sources by and about the subject. The location of the subject's papers is also given, if known. A list of contributors, a list of subjects by birth date and place of birth, and an index complete the volume.... The essays are readable and provide an overview of the biographee's life, career, and significance for American social welfare. This book's primary value will be to support a curriculum in or information requests from students or practitioners of social work.?-Reference Books Bulletin