The resurgence of charity has to be a good thing, doesn't it? No, says sociologist Janet Poppendieck, not when stopgap charitable efforts replace consistent public policy, and poverty continues to grow. In Sweet Charity?, Poppendieck goes behind the scenes of America's hunger relief programs to assess the effectiveness of these home-grown efforts and to track the shift away from entitlements in the nation's response to poverty and hunger.

Traveling the country to work in soup kitchens and gleaning centers, the author reports from the front lines.

We hear from the "clients," who endure endless humiliations as they receive meals too small to feed their families; from the well-meaning volunteers, whose enthusiasm cannot overcome the underlying causes of all the misery they witness; and from the directors, who find that their programs are becoming more and more "successful" but wonder if they are not in some way contributing to the very problem they are working so hard to solve.