Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“The belief that every man’s experience ought to be worth something to the community from which he drew it, no matter what that experience may be, so long as it was gleaned along the line of some decent, honest work, made me begin this book.”
- Source
- How the Other Half Lives
- Date
- 1890
Meaning of “The belief that every man’s experience ought to…”
Riis explains his decision to turn firsthand reporting experience into a public account because he believes knowledge gained through honest work should be returned to the community.
Where does it come from?
How the Other Half Lives, Preface, Project Gutenberg #45502. Riis explains that his belief that honest firsthand experience should be worth something to the community led him to write the book. The sentence belongs to his Progressive-era reform and investigative-journalism project about New York tenement conditions, not a universal rule about public service.