Book Reviews

As a social history of philanthropy within a community, this book will certainly interest contemporary Cleveland residents as it explains the existence and persistence of certain charitable institutions in the city. It also suggests new ground for future historians trying to understand how groups of people perceive themselves, their place in a locale, and how they attempted to control their own lives in a society that has generally left giving and taking care of others to individuals rather than seeing it as the responsibility of the State. Consideration of this last element, however, is missing from the book. More attention needs to be paid to how the failure of the American State to provide social services helped create the patterns of giving that this book explores for Cleveland before a broader social analysis of giving can be made. Tuennerman-Kaplan's book provides a good starting point for this larger consideration of the intersection of state and society in determining how and why groups of Americans chose to give, to receive, or to reject the offerings of others.

Maureen A. Flanagan 
Michigan State University 
East Lansing, Michigan

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