September 30, 2004 | Read Time: 1 minute
Philanthropy in America: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia
edited by Dwight F. Burlingame
This three-volume reference work, edited by Dwight F. Burlingame of the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy, is a comprehensive survey of philanthropy and nonprofit organizations in the United States.
The first two volumes include more than 200 entries on prominent philanthropists and activists, the missions and practices of major institutions, and the impact of historical events on nonprofit groups from precolonial times to the present. Scholars from different disciplines discuss nonprofit terminology—such as planned giving, social marketing, and donor-advised funds—and examine some of the main ideas that have shaped how people view philanthropy.
Entries such as “History of Philanthropy,” “Public Intellectuals on Philanthropy,” and “Economic Theories of Nonprofits,” provide a historical and theoretical context for the evolution of charitable groups. The book also includes entries on more recent trends in the nonprofit world, such as the use of the Internet to encourage charitable giving and issues such as accountability, advocacy, and ethics.
The book’s third volume is composed of primary source documents, including legislation, foundation reports, treatises, mission statements, and reflections by key philanthropists. It opens with Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, and offers a range of U.S. legal documents, such as Federalist Paper No. 10, the First Amendment, and the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1964.
Publisher: ABC-CLIO, 130 Cremona Drive, Santa Barbara, Calif. 93117; (805) 968-1911 or (800) 368-6868; sales@abc-clio.com; http://www.abc-clio.com; 886 pages; $285; I.S.B.N. 1-57607-860-4.
