Review of Dan Zuberi, Differences That Matter: Social Policy and the Working Poor in the United States and Canada

My chief regret is that Mettler's messages may "fall between two chairs." In striving to reach a wider readership through simple and schematic language, her book does not give serious students of public policy enough empirical and theoretical meat to chew on. (One might call the book a "tasting menu.") At the same time, to Mettler's credit, the book is just not sufficiently folksy and anecdotal to make it a likely candidate for The New York Times's best-seller list. But read it anyway. You will still learn a lot.