This graduate-level readings and discussion course focuses on the emergence of the broadly defined American welfare state, including health care, social insurance, employment, and anti-poverty programs, from the Progressive Era to the present.  Drawing from the literatures of history, political science, and sociology, the course will trace this history from the reform movements of late-19th-century cities, through the establishment of early state-level programs for women and children, to the New Deal, the Great Society, and “the end of welfare as we know it.”  We will consider how and why social welfare provision in the US is different from international counterparts, and more broadly consider the historiography of welfare states here and abroad. Successful participation in the course will provide a review of the historiography of US social policy, an introduction to emerging currents in the scholarly literature, and critical analysis and understanding of historical antecedents to  present-day debates around health care, Social Security, welfare, and urban economic development.  Students will also have an enhanced understanding of how to teach this material to undergraduate students.