Gueron, Judith M. “Work and Welfare: Lessons on
Employment Programs.”Journal of Economic Per-
spectives4 (Winter, 1990): 79-98. Analyzes results
of work-related welfare programs at eight sites
and is cautious about the effectiveness of such
programs on poverty reduction.
Handler, Joel F., and Yeheskel Hasenfeld.The Moral
Construction of Poverty: Welfare Reform in America.
Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage, 1991. Traces the his-
tory of welfare policy through the Family Support
Act. Highlights the importance of symbols in de-
fining and redefining different moral categories
of poor persons and in framing responses to
them.
___.We the Poor People: Work, Poverty, and Welfare.
New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1997.
Argues that welfare reform efforts signify sym-
bolic politics rather than address the spread of
poverty among working persons.
Mink, Gwendolyn, and Rickie Solinger,
eds.Welfare: A Documentar y Histor y of
U.S. Policy and Politics. New York:
New York University Press, 2003. A
collection of excerpts from key doc-
uments marking the development
of U.S. welfare policy in the twenti-
eth century. Uses original sources
that provide a historical record of
how our understanding of poverty
and interventions to deal with it has
or has not changed over time.
Richard K. Caputo
See also African Americans; Conser-
vatism in U.S. politics; Economic Re-
covery Tax Act of 1981; Elections in
the United States, 1980; Elections in the
United States, 1984; Elections in the
United States, 1988; Homelessness; In-
come and wages in the United States;
Liberalism in U.S. politics; Marriage
and divorce; Moral Majority; Reagan,
Ronald; Reagan Revolution; Reagan-
omics; Social Security reform; Unem-
ployment in the United States; Women
in the workforce.
West Berlin discotheque
bombing
The Event A terrorist bomb explodes in a
nightclub frequented by American servicemen
Date April 5, 1986
Place La Belle nightclub, West BerlinMedia-orchestrated outrage at this event generated support
for the Reagan administration’s increasingly aggressive
stance toward alleged foci of terrorism in the Middle East.At 1:40a.m.on April 5, 1986, a terrorist bomb ex-
ploded in the crowded La Belle nightclub in West
Berlin, an establishment frequented by U.S. service-
men. One American soldier and a Turkish woman
were killed outright, and more than two hundred
people were injured, some seriously. A second Amer-
ican later died of injuries.The Eighties in America West Berlin discotheque bombing 1041
Firefighters search the debris after the bombing of the La Belle discotheque in West
Berlin on April 5, 1986.(AP/Wide World Photos)