How the other half lives

by Jacob A. Riis

First published 1890 · 251 pages

About this book

A photographic collection exposing social conditions and daily life in the slums of late 19th century New York City. The title of the book is a reference to a sentence by French writer and philosopher François Rabelais, who famously wrote in his Pantagruel : "one half of the world does not know how the other half lives" ("la moitié du monde ne sait pas comment l'autre vit").

  • Museum of the City of New York
  • Photograph collections
  • Poor
  • Poverty
  • Social conditions
  • Tenement houses
  • Tenement-houses
  • Propagation

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