The Making of an American

Riis, Jacob A

ISBN 10: 1598187023 / ISBN 13: 9781598187021

Published by Alan Rodgers Books, 2005

About this Item

Seller Inventory # I-9781598187021

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Making of an American
• Publisher: Alan Rodgers Books
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1598187023
• ISBN 13: 9781598187021
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

The papers which form this autobiography were originally published in The Outlook, the chapter telling of my going "home to mother" in The Churchman, and parts of one or two others in The Century Magazine. To those who have been asking if they are made-up stories, let me say here that they are not. And I am mighty glad they are not. I would not have missed being in it all for anything.

About the Author

Jacob August Riis (1849 - 1914) was a Danish-American social reformer, "muckraking" journalist and social documentary photographer. He is known for using his photographic and journalistic talents to help the impoverished in New York City; those impoverished New Yorkers were the subject of most of his prolific writings and photography. He endorsed the implementation of "model tenements" in New York with the help of humanitarian Lawrence Veiller. Additionally, as one of the most famous proponents of the newly practicable casual photography, he is considered one of the fathers of photography due to his very early adoption of flash in photography. While living in New York, Riis experienced poverty and became a police reporter writing about the quality of life in the slums. He attempted to alleviate the bad living conditions of poor people by exposing their living conditions to the middle and upper classes.