How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York

by Jacob A. Riis

Overview

Published in 1890, Jacob Riis's remarkable study of the horrendous living conditions of the poor in New York City had an immediate and extraordinary impact on society, inspiring reforms that affected the lives of millions of people. Riis's reliance on specific, hard facts as weapons of social criticism pioneered the style of crusading journalism that continues today. Photos throughout. 224 pp.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781420956948
Publisher:	Digireads.com Publishing
Publication date:	12/26/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Jacob August Riis (May 3, 1849 - May 26, 1914) was a Danish American social reformer, "muckraking" journalist and social documentary photographer. He is known for using his photographic and journalistic talents to help the impoverished in New York City; those impoverished New Yorkers were the subject of most of his prolific writings and photography. He endorsed the implementation of "model tenements" in New York with the help of humanitarian Lawrence Veiller. Additionally, as one of the most famous proponents of the newly practicable casual photography, he is considered one of the fathers of photography due to his very early adoption of flash in photography. While living in New York, Riis experienced poverty and became a police reporter writing about the quality of life in the slums. He attempted to alleviate the bad living conditions of poor people by exposing their living conditions to the middle and upper classes.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
A Note about the Text and Images
List of Map and Illustrations
 
PART ONE. INTRODUCTION: Framing the Poor – The Irresistibility of How the Other Half Lives
     The Flash: Jacob Riis Discovers Light
     The American Scene: The Search for Order
     How the Other Half Looks: Interpreting Riis’s View of Poverty
 
PART TWO.
     How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York
 
PART THREE. RELATED DOCUMENTS
     1. Jacob A. Riis, The Other Half and How They Live: Story in Pictures, November 9, 1891
     2. Six Illustrations from the 1890 Edition of How the Other Half Lives
 
Appendixes
     A Jacob A. Riis Chronology (1849–1923)
     Questions for Consideration
     Selected Bibliography
 
Index