Thirteen papers explore the African American experience of poverty and ghetto formation; forces shaping contemporary urban poverty; and mobility and family strategies among groups differentiated by ethnicity, race, and labor market position. The introduction, "The Urban 'Underclass' as a Metaphor of Social Transformation" (M. B. Katz), is followed by: (1) "Southern Diaspora: Origins of the Northern 'Underclass'" (J. Jones); (2) "Blacks in the Urban North: The 'Underclass Question' in Historical Perspective" (J. W. Trotter, Jr.); (3) "The Structures of Urban Poverty: The Reorganization of Space and Work in Three Periods of American History" (T. J. Sugrue); (4) "Housing the 'Underclass'" (D. W. Bartelt); (5) "The Ethnic Niche and the Structure of Opportunity: Immigrants and Minorities in New York City" (S. Model); (6) "The Emergence of 'Underclass' Family Patterns, 1900-1940" (K. M. Neckerman); (7) "Poverty and Family Composition Since 1940" (M. J. Stern); (8) "Social Science, Social Policy, and the Heritage of African-American Families" (A. T. Miller); (9) "The Black Poor and the Politics of Opposition in a New South City, 1929-1970" (R. D. G. Kelley); (10) "Nineteenth-Century Institutions: Dealing with the Urban 'Underclass'" (E. H. Monkkonen); (11) "Urban Education and the 'Truly Disadvantaged': The Historical Roots of the Contemporary Crisis, 1945-1990" (H. Kantor and B. Brenzel); and (12) "The State, the Movement, and the Urban Poor: The War on Poverty and Political Mobilization in the 1960s" (T. F. Jackson). A conclusion, "Reframing the 'Underclass' Debate" (M. B. Katz), shows how the book points away from considering the pathology of the underclass toward the processes that are increasing it. (SLD)