34 Assignment: How the Other Half Lives

Journalist Jacob Riis wrote a famous book, How the Other Half Lives, to shed light on just how bad conditions were in the slums and poorest areas of America’s rapidly growing cities.

After reading the excerpt, be prepared to discuss the following:

• Riis identifies three major factors that led to the development of the New York Slums. What are they?
• For each factor underline two separate passages from the text in which Riis discusses that factor and its role in creating slums.

Note: Give me the causes of the slums, not the consequences of the slums.