Jacob Riis

by Bonnie Yochelsem

This volume - investigating the work of a particular photographer, in this case, Jacob Riis - comprises a 4000-word essay by an expert in the field, 55 photographs presented chronologically, each with a commentary, and a biography of the featured photographer.

Genres: Photography, Art

128 pages, Paperback

First published October 10, 2001

Reviews

[Virginia Pulver · Rating 5 out of 5]

This tiny book is an eye-opening collection of stark images which highlight life in the USA (circa 1892). Most of us have an air-brushed image of what it was like to live in a ghetto, work in a sweatshop, be a newsboy. The raw images of tenement life remind the reader of how much of the truth about the "good old days" is left out, because the stories are told by people who have a degree of privilege. Child labor, disease, filth, poverty are all part of what goes on behind the scenes when the rich just keep getting richer and the poor simply die. The reader will want to turn their eye to our current social structure and see if we are doing any better these days. This tiny tome would make a good prompt for a course on history or on writing 0r social sciences. - Ginn

[Tony Frampton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A haunting little book illustrating the poor, immigrant slums of New York City in the early 1900’s. His photographs were primarily used to enact social change.

[Ben Rowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book in a fab series about an interesting photojournalist about which I knew nothing before picking it up. Text fitted well with the pictures