My Neighbor : A Study of City Conditions, A Plea For Social Service – Text Book No. 7

Hardcover, 341 pages, 5x7.5 in - 12x19 cm, B&W illustrations and plates.

Cover corners worn; front cover stained, back cover bears faint scratches. Spine tender between pp.94-111 and at pp.174-175; interior clean

James Shaver Woodsworth (1874-1942) was a Canadian minister and member of Parliament who co-founded the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), serving as the party’s leader 1932-1942. Woodsworth published two books that combined his social democratic politics with his social gospel theology – 1909’s “Strangers Within Our Gates” and 1911’s “My Neighbor.” While his first book dealt with immigration, “My Neighbor” critically describes conditions in Canadian cities, commenting on issues such as crime, overcrowding, and education. To address this dismal view of urban life, Woodsworth argues for the implementation of a new, responsible social services model to alleviate poverty and provide employment. A seminal account of Woodsworth’s political philosophy full of sociological observations of Canadian civic life in the early 1900s.