Originally published in 1890, How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York is an early publication of photojournalism by Jacob Riis, documenting 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 classes. This work inspired many reforms of working-class housing, both immediately after publication as well as making a lasting impact in today's society.
Table of Contents
PREFACE.
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I. GENESIS OF THE TENEMENT.
CHAPTER II. THE AWAKENING.
CHAPTER III. THE MIXED CROWD.
CHAPTER IV. THE DOWN TOWN BACK-ALLEYS.
CHAPTER V. THE ITALIAN IN NEW YORK.
CHAPTER VI. THE BEND.
CHAPTER VII. A RAID ON THE STALE-BEER DIVES.
CHAPTER VIII. THE CHEAP LODGING-HOUSES.
CHAPTER IX. CHINATOWN.
CHAPTER X. JEWTOWN.
CHAPTER XI. THE SWEATERS OF JEWTOWN.
CHAPTER XII. THE BOHEMIANS—TENEMENT-HOUSE CIGARMAKING.
CHAPTER XIII. THE COLOR LINE IN NEW YORK.
CHAPTER XIV. THE COMMON HERD.
CHAPTER XV. THE PROBLEM OF THE CHILDREN.
CHAPTER XVI. WAIFS OF THE CITY’S SLUMS.
CHAPTER XVII. THE STREET ARAB.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE REIGN OF RUM.
CHAPTER XIX. THE HARVEST OF TARES.
CHAPTER XX. THE WORKING GIRLS OF NEW YORK.
CHAPTER XXI. PAUPERISM IN THE TENEMENTS.
CHAPTER XXII. THE WRECKS AND THE WASTE.
CHAPTER XXIII. THE MAN WITH THE KNIFE.
CHAPTER XXIV. WHAT HAS BEEN DONE.
CHAPTER XXV. HOW THE CASE STANDS.
APPENDIX. STATISTICS BEARING ON THE TENEMENT PROBLEM.
Footnotes
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
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.
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