Historian Tom Buk-Swienty takes us on a journey through the incredible life of Jacob A. Riis. Jacob emigrates in 1870 as a poor apprentice carpenter from Ribe to America because of unrequited love. But in New York he becomes homeless and nearly starves to death. He persistently fights his way up through the ranks of society, and becomes a well-known journalist and reportage photographer. He ends up as best friends with President Theodore Roosevelt and one of the most important reformers of American society.—DR