How the Other Half Lives

First published in 1890, this is the author's study of the slums of New York, where Italians, Jews, "Bohemians", Blacks and Chinese struggled against the effects of poverty, alcohol and lack of education. The author's use of photographs to put faces to his stories is recognized as a landmark in photojournalism and as a result of his book, many reforms did take place to assist New York's poor.

Jacob Riis (1849-1914) was a journalist and photographer born in Denmark.Lucy Sante was born in Verviers, Belgium, and now lives in the Hudson River Valley. Her books include Low Life, Evidence, The Factory of Facts, Kill All Your Darlings, The Other Paris, and Maybe the People Would Be the Times, and most recently, Nineteen Reservoirs. She has written for many periodicals, notably the New York Review of Books since 1981. Her honors include a Whiting Writer's Award, an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Grammy (for album notes), an Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography, and Guggenheim and Cullman fellowships. Since 1999 she has taught writing and the history of photography at Bard College.