The Other Half: The Life of Jacob Riis and the World of Immigrant AmericaDrawing on previously unexamined diaries and letters, The Other Half marvelously re-creates the moving story of Jacob Riis, the legendary Progressive reformer and muckraking photographer. Born in 1849 in rural Denmark, Riis immigrated to America in 1870 following a devastating romantic breakup. Penniless and starving, Riis stumbled into journalism, eventually becoming a charismatic police reporter for the New York Tribune, where he befriended Theodore Roosevelt and witnessed firsthand the appalling tenement conditions of late nineteenth-century New York. His resulting exposé, How the Other Half Lives, was the first major American muckraking book. It brought Americans in touch with their lost humanity, establishing a precedent for Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, Jane Addams, and Upton Sinclair. Described by Roosevelt as "the ideal American," Riis died in 1914, mourned by millions, a celebrated hero. Tom Buk-Swienty's long-awaited biography, a superb evocation of the muckraking era, is a compelling work, designed with 55 haunting images from Riis's own photographic oeuvre. |
Contents
The Old Town | 13 |
Heartache | 35 |
The Fast March to Buffalo | 63 |
True Love Can Never Die | 87 |
A Second Proposal | 105 |
Fat and Strong | 119 |
Police Reporter | 133 |
Anatomy of the Slums | 155 |
Flower Power | 219 |
The Manifesto | 229 |
Brothers | 245 |
The Golden Years | 257 |
The Making of an American | 271 |
Epilogue | 286 |
Selected Bibliography | 307 |
Credits | 315 |
Common terms and phrases
According Adler Alland alleys American Andersen arrived Baumann became become began Buffalo Byrnes Caroline Castle Christian church city's Copenhagen Courtesy Danish dark death Denmark editor Elisabeth Emma Reinsholm epidemics father Felix Adler felt flowers force friends German Giørtz Gotham Half Lives ibid immigrants Jacob Riis Josephine Shaw Lowell Journal journalist knew later lecture letter Library of Congress Lincoln Steffens looked memoirs morning moved Mulberry Bend Mulberry Street Museum National Media Museum never newspaper Niels Edvard night Old Town Papers of Jacob parents Photograph by Riis police reporter poor poverty railroad reform Richmond Hill Riis Collection Riis Papers Riis wrote Riis's diary Riises River Rønne settlement house Shanks slums social South Brooklyn Steffens story summer tenements Theodore Roosevelt tion took United walked weeks writing York City York Tribune York's young