A concise and comprehensive account of the transformation of social policy from traditional poor relief towards social insurance systems in a European state before World War One. Brings together the analysis of older, mostly local welfare policies with the history of social policy developed by the state and operated at a national level. Explores also the interaction of various layers of and actors in welfare policy, i.e. of poor relief, social reform policies and the unfolding welfare state over time, including often neglected elements of these policies such as e.g. protective policies at the work place, housing policy, child protection, and prostitution policies. Drawing on an extensive base of documents, Zimmermann reconstructs the special road of how fin-de-siecle Hungary headed for slowly becoming a welfare-state. It was in part an adaptation to the Western model transmitted by Austrian part of the dual Monarchy. The transformation also produced some distinctive innovations, examplified especially by the Budapest municipal social policy. The book will spark interest in the field of the European comparative history of social policy. --GABOR GYANI, Professor at Institute of History, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest Susan Zimmermann is University Professor at Department of History and Department of Gender Studies, Central European University. Her research has focused on the history of the Habsburg Monarchy, international women’s organizations in the 20th century, the ILO, and women and trade unions in state-socialist Hungary. She is President of the International Conference of Labour and Social History (ITH).