Jacob Riis was not one of America's bestknown newspapermen, but unlike most of them he claims a relatively prominent place in the country's social history. He was a leader in the reform movement that began to take clear shape in America in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, and more than any other he is identified with the move to relieve the slum conditions oppressing the hapless immigrants in New York City. But his efforts at reform were founded on his years of covering the slums as a police reporter for two of the country's greatest newspapers, and his journalistic career deserves more attention in the standard press histories. In addition, his pioneering efforts in photo-journalism have only recently come into any significant recognition, and it may turn out to be his pictures, rather than his newspaper writings or even his books, which do the most to establish his ultimate place in communications history.
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