Presenting a study of different approaches of America and Europe to the problems of domestic inequality and poverty, this book describes how different the two continents are in the level of State engagement in the redistribution of income. It discusses various economic and sociological explanations for the difference, including various attitudes. This probing of the forces behind 'American exceptionalism', as measured by a much smaller welfare state than in Europe, is immensely important. The authors take a multi-discipline approach and consider many factors, including narrowly economic variables, political institutions, racial and ethnic diversity, the effects of wars, attitudes toward the poor, and still others. Their findings are sometimes surprising and frequently provocative. This monograph will quickly become the foundation of further literature on a subject of enormous significance.