Chosen as an Outstanding Academic Book for 1991-1992 by Choice

"Thoroughly researched and widely referenced."--Journal of Modern History

"Distinctive....In this thoroughly researched and widely referenced book, Lindemann is at her best when sympathetically re-presenting the Hamburg patriots of the eighteenth century."--Journal of Modern History

"A rich and satisfying contribution to eighteenth-century German scholarship and to urban history in general....A superb study."--The Historian

"A sophisticated study that accomplishes its goals impressively. Lindemann's book offers valuable insights to scholars interested in the history of the old regimes, the enlightenment, comparative urban and social institutions, as well as issues of public welfare policy."--Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"Offers much in the way of new knowledge about ideological interactions among cameralism, enlightenment, and civic tradition within eighteenth-century urban elites and how these shaped reform policy."--Journal of Social History

"By providing a compelling case study of this undoubtedly atypical but significant city, Lindemann helps readers better understand the history of Germany's cities, of its middle classes, and of modernization in general....Strongly recommended."--CHOICE

"An exemplary work, it may serve as a model for the general student of Western welfare institutions. Her lively style and penetrating analyses get at the heart of Hamburg's patriotic reformism."--American Historical Review

"An impressive book....Lindemann's lively prose conveys the 'particularity' of Hamburg's traditions and the distinctiveness of its commercial situation while keeping her story set within a larger pattern of urban economic and demographic change."--German Studies Review

"Lindemann's panorama of the politics of poverty illuminates the workings of local government by showing-sometimes in extravagant detail-how it responded to structural, social and economic change in the eighteenth century. Although crucial archival materials had been destroyed by fire and bombing, Patriots and Paupers deftly shows how changing population patterns, economic transformations, and warfare placed new pressures on old institutions."--Journal of Urban History

"Well-written and well-conceived..."--The Eighteenth Century: A Current Bibliography