The Old Town By: Jacob Riis [Audiobook]

Author: Jacob Riis
Narrated by: Jason Renault

The Old Town is a collection of colorful and lively stories of life in a small town in Denmark during the late 19th Century. This is excellent family listening. Wholesome and colorful. The stories of 19th Century Denmark are stories of childhood and community. Stories of boys playing pranks and getting in trouble in school. Boys going hunting and fishing with home-made traps and fishing gear.

Riis tells tales of all the odd characters in his old home town and how he was fond of all of them. He tells of the culture and ethics of his small town, where everyone looked after everyone else and made sure no one went to bed hungry. If you’re tired of the car crashes, gang wars, and shoot outs of modern stories, this is a delightful change.

Jacob Riis was born in Denmark in 1849, the third of 15 children. He emigrated to the United States at age 21. He tried unsuccessfully to enlist in the US Army. After a series of jobs and careers, he ultimately became a journalist and grew into one of America’s great muckrakers, writing about destitution, poverty, and life in the slums. He documented his reporting on the slums of New York with photographs he learned to take, becoming one of the greatest American photographers of his era. This audiobook is just one of several he wrote after his career as a journalist.