From the Bookshelf of Not Exceeding Ten Miles Square…

How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York

Jacob A. Riis

Start date: August 4, 2021

Finish date: October 6, 2021

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Oct 07, 2021 ambyr rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: authorㅡmale, book-club, acquiredㅡlibrary, genreㅡnonfiction, genreㅡnonfictionㅡcities

Per Goodreads, there are more than 200 editions of this book. My library had five; I picked the one with the most pictures, the landscape-oriented Cover Publications reproduction of the 1901 edition published in 1971. "Reproduction" is an odd way of saying it, though; while this reproduces Riis's text, it supplements it with 100 photographs taken by Riis but in most cases not contained in the original publication (partly because of technological limitations; the original edition has etchings of Per Goodreads, there are more than 200 editions of this book. My library had five; I picked the one with the most pictures, the landscape-oriented Cover Publications reproduction of the 1901 edition published in 1971. "Reproduction" is an odd way of saying it, though; while this reproduces Riis's text, it supplements it with 100 photographs taken by Riis but in most cases not contained in the original publication (partly because of technological limitations; the original edition has etchings of photographs).

The photographs are spectacular, printed full-page with bleeds; the people in them stare directly through the camera at you, daring you to judge. I appreciate that whoever placed the photographs used them as a form of editorial commentary on Riis's text, which is frequently wildly prejudiced; "The one thing you shall vainly ask for in the chief city of America is a distinctively American community," Riis writes, and the opposite spread features "Mountain Eagle, an Iroquois, and his family." This is . . . almost certainly not what Riis meant when he asked "Where have they gone to, the old inhabitants?" but it's cognizant criticism of his tendency to elide that the people he considers "native-born individuals" are in fact European immigrants just as much as those whose character he repeatedly questions, just a few generations removed. Likewise Riis says of Italians "He not only knows no word of English, but he does not know enough to learn. Rarely only can he write his own language"; the photo editor pairs this with "Pietro learning to write," a photograph of an Italian father and son sitting at a table, paper and pens in hand.

This highlights the recurring issue/frustration with the text, which is that Riis is sometimes so close to sharing a modern understanding of the systemic causes (and possible solutions) to poverty . . . and then falls again and again into ethnic stereotypes, despite having observed a page, a paragraph, or even a sentence before a much better explanation of the behavior and results he's documenting. A friend was talking about "axiom lock" in another context the other day; Riis is an excellent example. He has all the pieces to the puzzle; he just can't put it together.

Being Jewish, I find his observations on Jews particular baffling, since his main complaint seems to be that they're living in poor conditions because they . . . save . . . too much? He cannot reconcile his belief in innate Jewish wealth and greed with the conditions he actually observes, nor acknowledge that the social mobility he criticizes them for engaging in is exactly what he claims to want to see immigrants doing. But the Chinese definitely get the worst of his racism; the fact that he gets to the right conclusion (hey, we should end the Chinese Exclusion Act and let Chinese women into the country so families can be reunited!) by the worst possible chain of logic (because if we don't they'll keep luring white women into the slavery of opium addiction) is excruciating to read.

I am glad I read this for its role in the history of urban planning and renewal; it gives a clear sense of the philosophy and perspective of a generation of reformers. But I cannot say it was always (or even often) pleasant reading. You're so close to getting it, Riis! So close! Why can't you just--argh. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 04, 2021 Bitsy marked it as to-read

Jul 16, 2015 Vipassana marked it as to-read

Shelves: check-library, for-class, non-fiction, urbanism, history

Oct 06, 2021 kelly rated it liked it · review of another edition

May 17, 2023 Tiffany Weiss rated it really liked it

Shelves: urban-planning

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