Based on 250 life-story interviews in seven European Union countries, Biography and social exclusion in Europe:analyses personal struggles against social exclusion to illuminate local milieus and changing welfare regimes and contexts;points to challenging new agendas for European politics and welfare, beyond the rhetoric of communitarianism and the New Deal;vividly illustrates the lived experience and environmental complexity working for and against structural processes of social exclusion;refashions the interpretive tradition as a teaching and research tool linking macro and micro realities.* * Students, academic teachers and professional trainers, practitioners, politicians, policy makers and researchers in applied and comparative welfare fields will all benefit from reading this book.