Digitized Book of the Week

http://hdl.handle.net/10111/UIUCOCA:tenementconditio00city
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In the late 1800s, unscrupulous slumlords took advantage of the Chicago's lax enforcement of housing construction codes to build sub-standard and crowded housing on small lots near the factories and stockyards that employed the waves of European immigrants moving into Chicago. This 1901 study attempted to raise public awareness of the devastating living conditions in some of the worst wards of the city. It paid particular attention to the "double-decker" or "dumb-bell" buildings where front and rear tenement buildings were joined by narrow passageways without proper provision for ventilation and light. "Some apartments have no windows opening upon any other space. The sun reaches the bottom for a few moments only each day, and the lower rooms opening upon it are always dark."

http://www.archive.org/details/joeworkerstoryof00scha
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Joe Worker and the Story of Labor, written by Nat Schachner with art by Jack Alderman, is a fascinating piece of American labor union history. Produced in 1948, it was distributed by the National Labor Service and published by Commercial Comics. "Here is the story of labor in America—dramatic! important! thrill-packed! More exciting than any adventure novel! Join the millions of Americans who have always wanted to know the real, true story of labor and labor unions in this country…All the answers—and plenty more—can be found in this color-splashed, dialoged series of comic strips, with peppy explanatory text. When you have finished this great story, you will have a new understanding and a new pride in the history of the American worker and his fight for better conditions, for a world free of intolerance and prejudice, for a world of decency and unit. A book for every American—regardless of race, color or creed." (from the foreword).