From Reformation to Improvement

offers advanced students and specialists in the field a concentrated survey of scholarship on the subject, set within a penetrating analysis of the way both the provision and the language of social welfare developed from the late fifteenth through the mid-eighteenth centuries.'Journal of Modern HistoryIn its careful use of terms, its complex explanation of events and its broad grasp of concepts, From Reformation to Improvement stands as an exemplary exercise in the intellectual, social, and political history of early modern welfare.‘Sixteenth Century Journal, XXXII/2By public welfare, Slack understands not only the broad range of public action for the public good but also the changing content of its meanings, means, and ends. It is precisely this syntactical care that distinguishes this collection.'Sixteenth Century Journal, XXXII/2impressive for its depth of research and for its ability to provoke thought … From Reformation to Improvement makes significant contributions to our understanding of early modern social policies … Slack is particularly adept at relating English social policies to developments on the continent … His mastery of the primary sources is impressive, allowing him to flesh out as no one has previously done the connections between the authors of pamphlets andsermons and those in authority at local and national levels … an outstanding piece of socal history … should be required reading for anyone who thinks institutions of public welfare wereonce-and-for-all creations of the twentieth century.‘Lee Beier, Urban History, Vol.28⁄1, 2001this important, scholarly, and subtle book.'David Harris Sacks, Renaissance Quarterly.a rich study of the history of “civic consciousness,” a deeply informed account of the governmental institutions and “agents who translated concepts into activity,” and an illuminating treatment of “the practical consequences” for the provision of “manifold public servivces for the welfare of … citizens” … contributes to the growing body of scholarship on the history of state-building in early modern Britain and Europe.‘David Harris Sacks, Renaissance Quarterly.`From Reformation to Improvement is as thought-provoking for what it suggests about recent political debates about the role of the state, the nature of public good, the reform of social mores, and the amelioration of want and suffering as for what it says about the past. It deserves the attention of all readers interested in the sometimes-noble history of efforts to reform and improve the human condition.‘David Harris Sacks, Renaissance Quarterly.

Paul Slack is Principal of Linacre College, Oxford.

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