Ragged Dick: Or, Life on the Streets in New York with the Boot BlacksRagged Dick: Or, Life in the Street in New York with the Boot Blacks tells the story of a young teenager trying to survive as a boot black on the streets of New York during the period of industrialization. Ragged Dick: Now, Street Life in New York with the Boot Blacks as a whole is very accurate in its depiction of the era. Several examples throughout this work can be used to justify this, such as Dick's occupations, his enjoyment of the theater, his rags to riches story, the adversities through which some individuals struggle, the emphasis on what comes next to become a professional and tough economic times. However, throughout this book, although scant in my opinion, there are also inaccuracies in its description of the times which several examples can attest to such as that of Dick and Fosdick surviving alone without any public assistance, or the fact that Dick has been able to pursue higher education in his limited free time, even though he works full time. Overall, this is an excellent book showing that an individual's character, good intentions, and honesty can help them lead a good life. Throughout this work, several examples help describe the era and are very accurate. The first example would be the fact that Dick himself works as a bootlegger on the streets of New York, working from morning to night looking for clients to earn a minimum wage in order to survive. As we have discussed throughout the semester in class, during the period of industrialization in America, more often than not, those who owned the means of production often exploited their workers, particularly immigrants who congregated in large cities. For this reason, families living in large cities often lived with ... middle of paper ...... and spent their hours each week trying to scrape together enough money to survive. Overall, Ragged Dick: Or, Street Life in New York with the Boot Blacks is a great story. Although there are some inaccuracies, they are very few and fall somewhere in between. I think this book is very accurate in its depiction of this particular period of American social history, or the era of industrialization in New York. I believe Dick's struggles and accomplishments help depict what life would have been like for a teenager without parents struggling to survive. Dick's character, good morals and ultimately intelligence are what make him successful and readers will enjoy this rags to riches story.BibliographyAlger, Horatio. Ragged Dick: Or, Street Life in New York with the Boot Blacks. Penguin of New York. 1990. Rydell and Kroes. Buffalo Bill in Bologna. Chicago. University of Chicago Press. 2005.