Introduction “How The Other Half Lives,” was written by Jacob A. Riis and published in 1890 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. Jacob Riis had one reason for writing this book, and that was to expose to the upper class people of America the deplorable conditions of the tenements, and the gross abuses committed by the landlords who owned them; and to this he proposed a series of ways to correct the then current situation. This book became revolutionary during it’s it time when immigration was at an all time high, and terrible tenements were popping up all around the city; it takes on this issue of the tenement with a ferocity that shocked all of America, and lead the way for reform . History Jacob Riis (1849-1914) was born in Ribe, Denmark. He like …show more content…
Jews, Bohemians, Chinamen, and the Italians); The landlords; and also the problems that are associated with or evolve from the tenement (i.e. saloons, alcoholism, the plight of children, gangs and thieves). Riis uses the different elements of the tenement, to paint a whole picture for the reader of not only the problems of the building itself, but also the problems that emerge because of the existence of the tenement …show more content…
It was during this time that racism was still very prevalent in American culture. In the chapter “The Color Line In New York,” Riis writes how some tenements were made specifically for blacks, and how as tenants they are treated much more harshly, in terms of rent and living space provided. In another review written by Edward T. O’Donnell; he also believes that for his time Riis was more tolerant than most of the individuals during this time; and that if put in their context, both Riis’s writing and pictures provide historians with information that cannot be given up because the language used by the author is unappealing to