Customer Reviews

Jacob Riis (55)

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The photos of Jacob Riis are, along with Matthew Brady, the some of the best and most moving of the 19th century. _Jacob Riis (55)_ includes several dozen of his best pictures, graphically illustrating the hard, brutal and generally unpleasant lives of the working poor and immigrants in New York City at the turn of the last century. With each photo is a short (25 - 50 words) synopsis of the photo. This provides the bulk of the book, and is its real strength.

The book also includes a brief biography and time line of Riis' life, and an all too brief disucssion of his work as a social reformer. While this is a good summary, I feel it could have gone into more detail regarding the time, the emerging role Riis (and others) played in social reform, and the impact he and other "muckrakers" had on America. Nonetheless, a solid collection of pictures showing the barbaric and squalid conditions of the urban poor.

The images taken by Jacob Riis in this book represent and show us the historical aspects of what New York City use to be. Along with a brief background of photographer Jacob Riis, a number of images are included that portray the hardships and grueling work environments migrants who moved and lived in New York had to deal with to survive in such unbearable surroundings.

Together with the brief biography of Jacob Riis, each image shown is accompanied by a short description. A concise summary of each image only deepens the impact that each image leaves on you as the viewer. This book is a small and yet simple book; however don't be deceived by its size. It's packed with great images and a great looked in old New York City.