Tom Corbett
Felicitous Fates
About The Book
Felicitous Fates is the third volume in a trilogy about the Crawford and Masoud families and
follows up the story line introduced in Palpable Passions and Ordinary Obsessions. The three
works are a complex, multi-layered narrative that weaves together the threads of history,
culture, politics, and personal relationships in a moving story of conflict and hope. The
members of each family are bonded together by necessity and choice, each finding inspiration
and solace in one another as they confront contemporary cultural and political tensions while
seeking their personal path in life, their singular moral compass, and their individual identity.
Each volume in this trilogy taps the most fundamental questions we all face . . . who are we
and what are we meant to do in life?
About The Author
Tom Corbett is emeritus senior scientist and an affiliate of the Institute for Research on Poverty
at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he served as associate and acting director for a
decade before his retirement. He received a doctorate in Social Welfare from the University of
Wisconsin and taught various social policy and program evaluation courses there for many
years. During his long academic and policy career he consulted with government at the local,
state, and national levels including a stint in Washington D.C. where he helped develop
President Clinton’s welfare reform legislation. He has written dozens of articles and reports on
poverty, social policy, and human services issues and given hundreds of talks across the nation
on these topics. His earlier works not included below are Policy Into Action (2003, with Mary
Clare Lennon), Evidence-Based Policymaking (2010, with Karen Bogenshneider), The Other
Side of the World (2011, with Mary Jo Clark, Michael Simonds, and Heywood Turrentiine),
and Return to the Other Side of the World (2013, with Mary Jo Clark, Michael Simonds,
Kathy Sohn, and Heywood Turrentine). The author lives in Madison Wisconsin.