Jacob Riis was one of the very few men who photographed the slums of New York at the turn of the century; when as many as 300;000 people per square mile were crowded into the tenements of New Yorks Lower East Side. The filth and degradation made the area a hell for the immigrants forced to live there. Riis was one of those immigrants; and; after years of abject poverty; when he became a police reporter for the New York Tribune; he exposed the shameful conditions of life with which he was all too familiar. Today; he is best remembered as a compassionate and effective reformer and as a pioneer photo-journalist.In How the Other Half Lives; New Yorkers read with horror that three-quarters of the residents of their city were housed in tenements and that in those tenements rents were substantially higher than in better sections of the city. In his book Riis gave a full and detailed picture of what life in those slums was like; how the slums were created; how and why they remained as they were; who was forced to live there; and offered suggestions for easing the lot of the poor. Riis originally documented all his studies with photographs. However; since the half-tone technique of photo reproduction had not been perfected; the original edition included mainly reductions in sketch-form of Riis photographs. These could not begin to capture what Riis sensitive camera caught on film. The anguish and the apathy; the toughness and the humiliation of the anonymous faces is all but obliterated in the sketches. This Dover edition includes fully 100 photographs; many famous; and many less familiar; from the Riis collection of the City Museum; and their inclusion here creates a closer conformity to Riis intentions than did the original edition.
#2183035 in eBooks 2013-09-26 2013-09-26File Name: B00CWR4J9W
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Flooding as a theme in literature and artBy lyndonbrechtThis is a book in Reaktion Books "Earth" series. It is not simply a book on floods; but might best be described as a book that probes floods as an aspect of the human/ nature interface. It is excellently illustrated and rather well written. As the title implies; it is as much about human culture as it is about floods themselves.Chapter 1 looks at floods in myth--a surprisingly important aspect; often in myths or origin; something like the biblical Genesis account. Chapter 2 looks at the natural history of floods; Chapter 3 probes floods in literature and chapter 4 presents a literal depiction of floods in art and film--in which depictions are often a basic force of nature overcome by human courage. Chapter 5 is largely about "defending" from floods; and chapter 6; "Defeat" examines dams; levees and other attempts to control floods; with a sense of the attempt to control floods as ultimately; human folly.The writing flows well and this is an interesting read. To me the most interesting part is the portrayal of floods in art; particularly painting. Its an interesting take on the relationship between humans and the raw power of nature.Note: "Tsunami" is another title in the series; and they are not covered in this book.