Jacob Riis (1849-1914) was a journalist and photographer born in Denmark.Lucy Sante was born in Verviers, Belgium, and now lives in the Hudson River Valley. Her books include Low Life, Evidence, The Factory of Facts, Kill All Your Darlings, The Other Paris, and Maybe the People Would Be the Times, and most recently, Nineteen Reservoirs. She has written for many periodicals, notably the New York Review of Books since 1981. Her honors include a Whiting Writer's Award, an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Grammy (for album notes), an Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography, and Guggenheim and Cullman fellowships. Since 1999 she has taught writing and the history of photography at Bard College.

• List of IllustrationsIntroduction by Luc SanteSuggestions for Further ReadingA Note on the TextHow the Other Half LivesPrefaceIntroduction1 Genesis of the Tenement2 The Awakening3 The Mixed Crowd4 The Down Town Back-alleys5 The Italian in New York6 The Bend7 A Raid on the Stale-beer Dives8 The Cheap Lodging-houses9 Chinatown10 Jewtown11 The Sweaters of Jewtown12 The Bohemians–Tenement-house Cigarmaking13 The Color Line in New York14 The Common Herd15 The Problem of the Children16 Waifs of the City's Slums17 The Street Arab18 The Reign of Rum19 The Harvest of Tares20 The Working Girls of New York21 Pauperism in the Tenements22 The Wrecks and the Waste23 The Man with the Knife24 What Has Been Done25 How the Case StandsAppendixExplanatory Notes