A genuinely global survey of world poverty from 1500 to the present day, Poverty in World History focuses upon the period from around 1500 onwards when poverty became a global issue, and uses the process of globalization as the chief lens through which to study and understand poverty in world history.

The result is both a tying together of significant strands of world history, and an examination of changing attitudes towards poverty and poor relief throughout the world. This wide ranging study underscores a major consequence of increased cultural and economic interaction among the world's societies, highlighting the similarities and differences in impacts and responses to the resulting 'smaller' globe. Topics include:

• innovations in early modern poor relief


• the causes of trends towards a globalization of poverty after 1500


• poor relief since 1945 to the present


• poverty, morality and the state.

Introduction 1. Poverty and Charity in the Pre-Modern World: Causes, Perceptions, and Strategies 2. Poverty in the Emerging Global Economy 3. Innovations in Early Modern Poor Relief 4. Industrialization, Imperialism, and World Poverty, 1750-1945 5. Poverty, Morality, and the State, 1750-1945 6. Poverty and Poor Relief after 1945. Conclusion