Rating: 
Summary: How the Other Half Lives
Review: I had to read this and write an esay on this book for mu history 1302 class. At first, I found myself gettign depressed by the horrible consitions that the people in these dwelings endured. After continuing with the book,I began to find myself fascinated. It is like actually being in the time period that Riis speaks of. The book is very well written and breaks a lot of boundaries. I would highly recommend this book to anyone. It makes you very aware of the problems that were, and the problems that are.
Rating: 
Summary: history teacher
Review: I have used the paperback edition in the classroom and feel it is an excellent tool. I recently purchased the e-book with the hopes that I could use the pictures in a powerpoint presentation so the class could see it better. I was very dissappointed to see that the pictures are not clear and that since the book is so heavily copyrighted that you can cut and paste or anything with this book. Please save your money or buy the hard copy of the book, the pictures are what makes this book and e-book doesn't do a good job in this regard.
Rating: 
Summary: I loved this book so much
Review: I really think this book was interested. we had to read it in our english class and everyone seemed to like it alot.I think that what they did to the peolpe was wrong and people should not be treated in such bad manners like that. I woyld not last long in there life time i would end up dead in a few days. I wish there was something someone could of did for those helpless people. I know that I had the chance I would help them live in an enviorment best for them. thank you amanda brayton
Rating:
Summary: Incredible pictures!
Review: I used this book along with another Riis book for a U.S. History project at school. Both this book and Low Life were an incredible help. The pictures are incredible. Riis was the first to show this side of life in NYC during the first part of the century. His books are by far the best pictoral records of the time. I highly recomend this book for anyone interested in the early part of the century or anyone who needs information for school projects.
Rating:
Summary: Examining Society's Social Structures
Review: Jacob Riis can be considered one of the greatest social reformers of modern times. He used his writing and photography to publicize the lifestyles of the lower classes in New York City in the late nineteenth through early twentieth centuries. In How the Other Half Lives, Riis described the inherent injustices and terrible living conditions of New York City tenements. He exposed the public to the evils of tenement life, portraying New York City living conditions of the lower classes for what they truly were. He successfully accomplished his goal of attracting attention to a dire situation. Riis wrote How the Other Half Lives to evoke sympathy to awaken the masses to the poverty in their backyards. Through his writings and photographs Riis knew people would become aware and respond to the living conditions in New York slums. Tenements were large buildings that overflowed with families living under miserable conditions. People representing many different nationalities lived in New York City tenements, and the population of immigrants grew incredibly during this time of emigration. It quickly became the most heterogeneous city in the country, and the different Europeans lived together under terrible conditions. Some immigrant groups of the same nationality lived in small separate communities together. Most settled on the East Side of New York, where the New York aristocracy had lived. The contrast between the days when the aristocracy lived on the East Side and when the immigrants moved there is quite apparent. Jacob Riis stated, "Homes had ceased to be sufficiently separate, decent, and desirable to afford what are regarded as ordinary wholesome influences of home and family." Tenements were overcrowded, dark, and unsanitary. Riis felt nobody should live in these conditions, and he called people to recognize the horrors of immigrant life. The homes of these immigrants were described in this way, "Large rooms were partitioned into several smaller ones, without regard to light or ventilation, the rate of rent being lower in proportion to space or height from the street; and they soon became filled from cellar to garret with a class of tenantry living from hand to mouth, loose in morals, improvident in habits, degraded, and squalid as beggary itself." One of Riis's photographs, "In Poverty Gap, West Twenty-Fourth Street An English Coal Heaver's Home" depicts a typical poor immigrant family who obviously had very little materially and lived in a dilapidated tenement. The family seems very hardened in emotion, as if they are not even real. The combination of poignant quotes and photographs such as these led people to challenge the status quo. One of Riis's major tasks was to distinguish the difference between the "haves" and "have-nots" of New York City by comparing the immigrants with the few rich. There was very little social mobility for tenement immigrants, who made up the majority of the population. He appealed to the consciousness of the rich by saying, "As business increased, and the city grew with rapid strides, the necessities of the poor became the opportunity of their wealthier neighbors." This points out the exploitation of immigrants by the wealthy class that Riis felt existed. No matter how hard they worked, there seemed to be no way out for the immigrants. "Knee Pants at Forty-Five Cents a Dozen - a Ludlow Street Sweater's Shop" is a photograph that shows an entire family working diligently in their confined tenement. This illustrates that there was no hope for immigrant families; they kept working but reaped no benefits. Riis blamed the tenement living conditions for the crimes and unethical behavior he saw among the immigrants. He blamed their poor standard of living for the abundance of crime and other abuses in immigrant neighborhoods. "A Downtown Morgue" presents us with drinking, one of the vices of the immigrants, but implies that they had nothing to encourage them to stay away from it. The photograph also reinforces the poverty and hopelessness, suggesting the immigrants had nothing to live for so they wasted their lives away on alcohol. Riis took a special interest in children because he saw them as innocent people who had become so jaded by their surroundings that they became criminals. "Prayer Time in the Nursery, Five Points House of Industry" portrays young children praying, probably indicating Riis's dream that all children would be set on the right path and stay there throughout their lives. A major criticism to Riis's work is that he was prejudiced and writing from a biased point of view. Riis reflected the view of the upper classes toward the immigrants and poorer classes, and readers can pick up on this through the biases in his work. He could not fully understand the plight of the people he studied because he was not one of them. Riis used terms that were crude and unflattering to the nationalities of those whom he was describing. He describes the "Chinaman" in the following way, "Ages of senseless idolatry, a mere grub-worship, have left him without the essential qualities for appreciating the gentle teachings of a faith whose motive and unselfish spirit are alike beyond his grasp." He also referred to the Chinese as a "terrible menace to society" because of their marijuana smoking. Riis wrote that "lower class" Italians were foreign, different, and therefore separate from others. Other examples of vivid language Riis used were, "the tramps, peddlers, hags, rude swains, and the really pretty girls." Since he was an outsider due to his class, he could not possibly relate to the people he was describing.
Rating:
Summary: Examining Society's Social Structures
Review: Jacob Riis can be considered one of the greatest social reformers of modern times. He used his writing and photography to publicize the lifestyles of the lower classes in New York City in the late nineteenth through early twentieth centuries. In How the Other Half Lives, Riis described the inherent injustices and terrible living conditions of New York City tenements. He exposed the public to the evils of tenement life, portraying New York City living conditions of the lower classes for what they truly were. He successfully accomplished his goal of attracting attention to a dire situation. Riis wrote How the Other Half Lives to evoke sympathy to awaken the masses to the poverty in their backyards. Through his writings and photographs Riis knew people would become aware and respond to the living conditions in New York slums. Tenements were large buildings that overflowed with families living under miserable conditions. People representing many different nationalities lived in New York City tenements, and the population of immigrants grew incredibly during this time of emigration. It quickly became the most heterogeneous city in the country, and the different Europeans lived together under terrible conditions. Some immigrant groups of the same nationality lived in small separate communities together. Most settled on the East Side of New York, where the New York aristocracy had lived. The contrast between the days when the aristocracy lived on the East Side and when the immigrants moved there is quite apparent. Jacob Riis stated, "Homes had ceased to be sufficiently separate, decent, and desirable to afford what are regarded as ordinary wholesome influences of home and family." Tenements were overcrowded, dark, and unsanitary. Riis felt nobody should live in these conditions, and he called people to recognize the horrors of immigrant life. The homes of these immigrants were described in this way, "Large rooms were partitioned into several smaller ones, without regard to light or ventilation, the rate of rent being lower in proportion to space or height from the street; and they soon became filled from cellar to garret with a class of tenantry living from hand to mouth, loose in morals, improvident in habits, degraded, and squalid as beggary itself." One of Riis's photographs, "In Poverty Gap, West Twenty-Fourth Street An English Coal Heaver's Home" depicts a typical poor immigrant family who obviously had very little materially and lived in a dilapidated tenement. The family seems very hardened in emotion, as if they are not even real. The combination of poignant quotes and photographs such as these led people to challenge the status quo. One of Riis's major tasks was to distinguish the difference between the "haves" and "have-nots" of New York City by comparing the immigrants with the few rich. There was very little social mobility for tenement immigrants, who made up the majority of the population. He appealed to the consciousness of the rich by saying, "As business increased, and the city grew with rapid strides, the necessities of the poor became the opportunity of their wealthier neighbors." This points out the exploitation of immigrants by the wealthy class that Riis felt existed. No matter how hard they worked, there seemed to be no way out for the immigrants. "Knee Pants at Forty-Five Cents a Dozen - a Ludlow Street Sweater's Shop" is a photograph that shows an entire family working diligently in their confined tenement. This illustrates that there was no hope for immigrant families; they kept working but reaped no benefits. Riis blamed the tenement living conditions for the crimes and unethical behavior he saw among the immigrants. He blamed their poor standard of living for the abundance of crime and other abuses in immigrant neighborhoods. "A Downtown Morgue" presents us with drinking, one of the vices of the immigrants, but implies that they had nothing to encourage them to stay away from it. The photograph also reinforces the poverty and hopelessness, suggesting the immigrants had nothing to live for so they wasted their lives away on alcohol. Riis took a special interest in children because he saw them as innocent people who had become so jaded by their surroundings that they became criminals. "Prayer Time in the Nursery, Five Points House of Industry" portrays young children praying, probably indicating Riis's dream that all children would be set on the right path and stay there throughout their lives. A major criticism to Riis's work is that he was prejudiced and writing from a biased point of view. Riis reflected the view of the upper classes toward the immigrants and poorer classes, and readers can pick up on this through the biases in his work. He could not fully understand the plight of the people he studied because he was not one of them. Riis used terms that were crude and unflattering to the nationalities of those whom he was describing. He describes the "Chinaman" in the following way, "Ages of senseless idolatry, a mere grub-worship, have left him without the essential qualities for appreciating the gentle teachings of a faith whose motive and unselfish spirit are alike beyond his grasp." He also referred to the Chinese as a "terrible menace to society" because of their marijuana smoking. Riis wrote that "lower class" Italians were foreign, different, and therefore separate from others. Other examples of vivid language Riis used were, "the tramps, peddlers, hags, rude swains, and the really pretty girls." Since he was an outsider due to his class, he could not possibly relate to the people he was describing.
Rating:
Summary: A really fine book
Review: Like books by Steinbeck, How the other half lives is a eye opening expose of life for the have-nots in the late 19th century. The progression through the different areas of NYC shows that there were a lot more poorer people in the city than I thought. Riis is thorough and pulls no punches in showing how the other half true lives.
Rating:
Summary: A story that should be revisited.
Review: Riis takes a look at the under world of New York much in that same way that De Tocqueville did of New England in "Democracy in America." The difference is that Riis is an American, just a rich one. He finds himself stunned and appalled that we as a people could allow our compatriots to live in such squalor. At the same time he drags out all of the tired stereotypes of the day about the different ethnic groups then living in the city (mostly: Jewish, Irish and Italian). Riis' upper-class lifestyle and upbringing are apparent throughout the book, and some of the passages would offend many of our sensibilities today, but the general point of the book is what's important here. The upper-class lives in comfortable ignorance while a significant number of Americans have to wonder where their next meal is coming from and what they'd do should they, god forbid, fall ill. A good book if you're looking for a more modern perspective on this problem is Barbra Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed."
Rating:
Summary: powerful
Review: Riis's work is an amazing picture of life in the New York slums. While the text in itself is quite interesting, the photos are perhaps the most gripping aspect of the book. To see the tiny, crowded rooms populated by unreal numbers of people and the eyes of hungry children that stare out of the picture and are still imploring a century later is a powerful experience; Riis's book allows one to get very close to the misery these people felt. This book is not for the soft-hearted, as it is a very grim depection of life, such as it was for these immigrants.
Rating:
Summary: Sad,startling,urban pictures & reporting from 1890 NYC
Review: This is an extremely important work that is often difficult to find at local libraries. At the turn of the century the Danish immigrant, Jacob Riis, took pictures, and wrote, of the the NYC ghettos where many of the immigrants lived. It is very powerful, depressing and shocking; a must read for anyone interested in the study of urban human behavior/housing and photo journalism.
Beware:
Avoid some paperback editions that do not contain the pictures Riis took of the dismal living conditions in NYC.
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