What Makes Charity Work?: A Century of Public and Private Philanthropy

Myron Magnet may be best known as one of the minds behind the "compassionate conservatism" of George W. Bush. His book The Dream and the Nightmare is said to be required reading in Bush circles, and it has informed much of what the Texas governor has tried to accomplish on the campaign trail and in office. Now comes What Makes Charity Work?--a collection of articles from City Journal, a low-circulation but highly influential magazine published by the right-of-center Manhattan Institute and edited by Magnet. The book's main theme is that public charity--the $5 trillion "war on poverty" and other government assistance programs--has been catastrophic. Traditional charity programs, writes Magnet in an introduction, promoted personal responsibility and self-reliance. During the 1960s, however, the public sector assumed a much larger role in aiding the poor. The result was devastating, as welfare programs taught the needy that they were victims of social forces outside their control and failed to give them the tools necessary for improving their lives. A fundamental problem, as one contributor puts it, was that "America jettisoned its traditional distinction between the deserving and the undeserving poor." What Makes Charity Work? examines this transformation before, during, and after it took place in a series of articles on everything from how Catholic charities served Irish Americans during the 19th century to a history of the Boy Scouts to an analysis of how pro-bono legal aid has evolved. Authors include Brian Anderson, Kay Hymowitz, Sol Stern, and City Journal's in-house reporting star, Heather Mac Donald (The Burden of Bad Ideas). There is a focus on New York City throughout the volume, but the lessons Magnet and his team of writers impart deserve an audience across the United States. One thing is certain: the "compassionate conservatives" will be taking notice. --John J. Miller