Question

What point do you think riis was trying to make when he chose the title for his book?

Answer 1

That another part of the country was living a life contrary to the lives of his target audience.

Jacob Riis wrote the book, "How the Other Half Lives", which highlighted the lives of the poor during the late 1800's. His audience for the book and the photo displays were the upper middle and upper classes to demonstrate how the workers were living. He hoped to encourage charity and reform through better wages, working, and living conditions.

Jacob Riis was considered a muckraker. Muckrakers were journalists who investigated and reported on the "muck" or ugly parts of society. Their goal was often reform by reaching the upper power structures of society to create change. Ida B. Wells wrote on lynching, Ida Tarbell on the oil industry, Upton Sinclair on food production. These writers were responsible for bringing awareness that sparked changed in the early 1900's.