How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis

Jacob Riis' "How the Other Half Lives" (1890) is very similar to the conditions in which homeless and needy people live in America today. As time has changed, so have the wage gapes in America, and in most cases the living conditions of people living under the poverty line are still reflected in the writings of Riis. Jacob Riis' writings were effective for the time period, but as described in the pretext he went for shock value as opposed to empathy. In today's society I'm not too sure people would feel as compelled to take a stand against poverty and blindly help the needy as they were in the time of Riis. I feel this way because people now-a-days are too concerned with their own household, how much they can save, and don;t take as much time to think of how lucky they are in comparison to others. We are more willing to fight poverty in other countries than to acknowledge our own poverty stricken citizens.