How the other half lives; studies among the tenements of New York, by Jacob A. Riis; with illustrations chiefly from photographs taken by the author. Review

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(More customer reviews)Heart-rending. The classic work which moved so many to support social reforms.
Riis's commitment to record, report, and assist the poor tells of another time, when standards were quite different. It is not surprising, then, that his language reflects the context of his time. Many of his words seem awkward and racist when evaluated according to modern standards. It will seem odd to some modern readers, to hear such sweeping and biased generalizations of the poor, together with such genuinely compassionate, impassioned pleas for fair and ethical treatment of the poor, issuing from the same source.
There is no irony here. It is rather a reminder of real progress we have made, thanks to efforts by Riis and others, that we now recoil at some of the assumptions Riis states so freely and comfortably, prejudiced impressions which were well accepted then. Grateful for the real reforms we have achieved, nevertheless we should not be so smug as to criticize Riis's language. After all, our own great-grandchildren will inevitably find some of our accepted habits quite horrifying, and many of our activities inhumane.
Riis's work -- his photography and reporting of the desperate circumstances of children and families in the tenements -- brought information of these tragedies to the general public, and motivated the enactment of legislation intended to protect the poor, especially children. This work marks a milestone in American history, and is not to be missed!

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This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University LibraryÕs preservation reformatting program.

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How the Other Half Lives, Special Illustrated Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)How did our grandfathers and great-grandfathers (and great-great, I suppose) survive immigration and the slums? What was life like on the Lower East Side of New York? For those of us whose family has only been in the US for a few generations, this is a must-read. Whether Irish, Italian, Jewish, Chinese or Polish, German, Russian, hordes of refugees ended up in New York on the promise of a better life.
Reading Riis' book reads like the newspaper in some ways; entrepreneurs lured poor people from Eastern Europe and contracted out their labor in sweat shops in the US. Sound familiar? But what is not so familiar are the living conditions in the tenements, dark, unventilated cages in blocks of buildings that rented for a surprising high rent to people who died by the thousands in the unsanitary conditions. Farm animals had it better. Why was rent so high? Supply and demand. Cheaper rent was to be had in Brooklyn and the outlying (as yet unincorporated) boroughs, but the WORK was in Manhattan, where you could get by as a tailor, a seamstress, a peddler or in some illegitimate activity.
The conditions will make you cry; the story of foundling babies (abandoned newborns) is astonishing. A cradle was put outside a Catholic Church and instead of a baby each night, racks of babies appeared. The Church had to establish foundling hospitals run by nuns, who persuaded the unwed or impoverished mothers to nurse the baby they gave up, plus another baby (women can usually nurse two, though these malnourished women must have been hard-pressed.) The child mortality rate, especially in the "back tenements" or buildings built on to the back of others (dark and airless) was incredible.
I wish the plates in the book were of better quality; Riis took many photographs, but the reproduction here is poor and they are hard to see. I recommend that if you are interested in this subject from seeing "The Gangs of New York" or for genealogical reasons, that you visit the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and see the buildings for yourself. Even cleaned up and no longer packed with unwashed people, they are heart-rending.

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How the Other Half Lives was a pioneering work of photojournalism by Jacob Riis, documenting the squalid living conditions in New York City slums in the 1880s. It served as a basis for future muckraking journalism by exposing the slums to New York City's upper and middle class.How The Other Half Lives quickly became a landmark in the annals of social reform. Riis documented the filth, disease, exploitation, and overcrowding that characterized the experience of more than one million immigrants. He helped push tenement reform to the front of New York's political agenda, and prompted then-Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt to close down the police-run poor houses. Roosevelt later called Riis "the most useful citizen of New York".Riis's idea inspired Jack London to write a similar exposé on London's East End, called People of the Abyss.

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