This collection of lectures by Catherine Booth and William Booth form a passionate call to Christians to improve the dire social status of society's poor and downtrodden. Along with her husband William Booth, who assisted in the preparation and publication of this splendid book, Catherine Booth was a fervent supporter of Christian charity; extending support and aid to help the disadvantaged was seen by the author to be a crucial tenet of good character. Throughout her life, Catherine Booth would point to Christ as a prime example of a Christian virtue and self-sacrifice. At the time Catherine Booth wrote these talks in the late 19th century, levels of poverty in the United States and Europe were abysmally great. It is by casting her gaze back to the life of Jesus Christ that Booth sees a clear inspiration for all in the face of such degradation. Only when Christians unite in opposition to poverty will social reform and improvements take hold in wider society.

This book (hardcover) is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS. It contains classical literature works from over two thousand years. Most of these titles have been out of print and off the bookstore shelves for decades. The book series is intended to preserve the cultural legacy and to promote the timeless works of classical literature. Readers of a TREDITION CLASSICS book support the mission to save many of the amazing works of world literature from oblivion. With this series, tredition intends to make thousands of international literature classics available in printed format again - worldwide.

This book, published in 1877, describes both the 'utterly Godless condition of the vast majority of the English nation' and the activities of William Booth (not yet famous as the founder of the Salvation Army, first named in 1878) at the Whitechapel Christian Mission, where he had been working since 1865. It is not clear whether Booth (1829-1912) actually wrote this book: the preface is signed by 'Geo. R.', and Booth is referred to in the third person, but it is conventionally ascribed to him and certainly echoes his own beliefs. (Booth's more famous 1890 work, In Darkest England and the Way Out (also reissued in this series) was ghostwritten by journalist W.T. Stead.) Using anecdotes from Whitechapel, the book claims that the British urban working classes are in more urgent need of Christian help and education, on the model provided by Booth, than any so-called pagan society overseas.

This classic work in the literature of poverty was published in 1890 by William Booth (1829 1912), the founder of the Salvation Army. It was in fact mostly written by the crusading journalist W. T. Stead (referred to as an anonymous 'friend of the poor' in Booth's preface), but the practical ideas for relieving the poverty and squalor of late Victorian British cities are all Booth's own. Reworking the cliche of 'Darkest Africa', in the first part he describes the 'submerged tenth' of Darkest England - destitute and/or criminal - and goes on to suggest the way to 'Deliverance', which includes better housing, education and training for work, and the sending of the urban poor to 'colonies', both overseas and in the British countryside. These proposals had their critics, but drew wide attention to an appalling aspect of urban life of which the prosperous classes were barely aware."

Robert Bly, renowned poet and author of the ground-breaking bestseller Iron John, mingles essay and verse to explore the Shadow -- the dark side of the human personality -- and the importance of confronting it.

William Booth was apprenticed to a pawnbroker at age eleven. He began reading and educated himself so that he could become a minister. Booth wanted to be an evangelist and when the Methodist church kept assigning him to pastoral work he left and began his own ministry. This led to the founding of the Salvation Army. The title In Darkest England was chosen after Booth had heard about the travels of Stanley in darkest Africa. Booth proposes to help the poor in England. He fought for universal social reforms. Some of his ideas included a poor man's bank, model suburban villages, matrimonial counseling, lawyers and white chapel by the sea.

This collection of lectures by Catherine Booth and William Booth form a passionate call to Christians to improve the dire social status of society's poor and downtrodden. Along with her husband William Booth, who assisted in the preparation and publication of this splendid book, Catherine Booth was a fervent supporter of Christian charity; extending support and aid to help the disadvantaged was seen by the author to be a crucial tenet of good character. Throughout her life, Catherine Booth would point to Christ as a prime example of a Christian virtue and self-sacrifice. At the time Catherine Booth wrote these talks in the late 19th century, levels of poverty in the United States and Europe were abysmally great. It is by casting her gaze back to the life of Jesus Christ that Booth sees a clear inspiration for all in the face of such degradation. Only when Christians unite in opposition to poverty will social reform and improvements take hold in wider society.