Down and dirty

Czitrom, a distinguished historian of old New York and a fine writer, does an excellent job of situating Riis in the larger context of tenement housing reform, a movement that had begun long before Riis arrived and had frustrated many noble reformers. He may be right in upbraiding Riis for not crediting his predecessors, but the reasons he assigns seem excessively ideological. Thus, he claims: "Riis went to great pains to erase the more radical forces in city politics from the story." But "How the Other Half Lives" was meant as a vividly personal, high-journalistic account of slum life, not as a historical account of prior reform efforts.

Likewise, writing of an earlier reformer, Charles F. Wingate, Czitrom notes: "If Wingate's journalism provided a template for Riis, why did his influence remain unacknowledged? The answer may lie in Wingate's turn toward political activism, specifically his . . . affiliation with the organized labor movement, from which Riis always kept his distance." Again, this seems too conspiratorial; Riis made his experience into a personal myth of loneliness and redemption. As for the historical neglect of Wingate, most good deeds are forgotten regardless of whether or not the doer has pledged allegiance to organized labor. Overall, though, he is scrupulous in balancing Riis' idealistic and opportunistic tendencies. He links Riis' tours of the downtrodden with the "sunshine and shadow" guidebooks of late 19th century New York and the sermon tradition of the day, concluding judiciously: "The contradictions inherent in Riis's work -- its simultaneously reactionary and forward-looking stances, its derivative and synthetic qualities, its mixture of urban entertainment and social inquiry -- are certainly more evident today. . . . None of this ought to detract from his breakthroughs. Riis was the first muckraker and the first American social documentary photographer. Art historians will continue debating the quality, intentionality, and meaning of his pictures. But a century later they remain a powerful and unique record. . . ."