{"product_id":"a-ten-years-war","title":"A Ten Years' War","description":"267 pp. Brown cloth, gilt titles, top edge gilt, photographic frontispiece of Colonel George E. Waring, Jr., photographic plates throughout, including a portrait of Theodore Roosevelt. Intended as an update to How the Other Half Lives, though Riis ended up releasing a full-length sequel just two years after this entitled The Battle with the Slum. A Ten Years' War: An Account of the Battle with the Slum in New York by Jacob A. Riis is a compelling and detailed chronicle of one of the earliest sustained urban reform movements in American history. First published in 1900, this powerful work documents Riis's decade-long crusade against the slums of New York City - a war not fought with weapons, but with words, photographs, civic engagement, and moral conviction.  In this volume, Riis moves beyond the expose journalism that made his name and offers readers an in-depth reflection on his ten-year campaign to improve the lives of the city's impoverished tenement dwellers. Drawing from his experiences as a police reporter, a pioneering photojournalist, and a passionate reformer, he recounts the key milestones, challenges, victories, and setbacks that defined the struggle to replace squalor with sanitation, cruelty with compassion, and neglect with civic responsibility.  Through sixteen essays, Riis combines narrative, personal testimony, and sharp social analysis to show how public housing, education reform, sanitation, and playground initiatives became battlegrounds for justice. He provides a behind-the-scenes look at the tireless advocacy and political collaboration - particularly with then - Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt - that helped bring about real change in city policy and infrastructure.  More than just a memoir, A Ten Years' War is a blueprint for effective civic activism. It illustrates how ordinary citizens, armed with evidence and empathy, can shift public opinion and reshape institutions. Riis emphasizes the importance of journalism not merely as a tool for documenting suffering, but as a powerful catalyst for reform. He also reflects on the broader moral dimensions of the struggle: the obligation of a just society to care for its most vulnerable members.","brand":"Houghton, Mifflin and Company \/ The Riverside Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44897187758150,"sku":"2352999","price":125.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1232\/9510\/files\/2352999_e8b6b91d-8a9a-47ce-88e5-158bd60ac513.jpg?v=1776867923","url":"https:\/\/ym-demo.myshopify.com\/products\/a-ten-years-war","provider":"Yesterday's Muse","version":"1.0","type":"link"}