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Paul A. Fideler '58 recently had his second book published, Social Welfare in Pre-Industrial England: The Old Poor Law Tradition (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006). The volume crosses period boundaries that often isolate late medieval, early modern and 18th-century historiographies from one another.

The book is a comprehensive overview of parish-centered social welfare in England from its medieval beginnings, through its embodiment in the Elizabethan Poor Law, to its virtual demise in the early decades of industrialization.

Fideler is a professor of history and humanities at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has been a fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies; a visiting scholar at Harvard University and the Folger Shakespeare Library; and president of the Northeast Conference on British Studies and the New England Historical Association. Fideler earned his St. Lawrence degree in history and government, played football, belonged to Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and was cadet commander of the Army ROTC battalion. After completing his military service, Fideler earned a master's degree and the Ph.D. in history from Brandeis University.

Posted: March 14, 2007