Reality Ensues "In Darkest England"

“One of the secrets of the success of the Salvation Army is, that the friendless of the world find friends in it.”

Having chosen this book almost at random, from a list of free theology books I found online, I didn’t realize until I was well into this book that In Darkest England and the Way Out was written by the founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth. In fact, one could argue that this book is practically a sales pitch for the (relatively) new charity organization he’d created: the first half of the book describes “darkest England,” the social, economic, and moral problems that undermined their own country (as opposed to the possibly more popular mission field of “darkest Africa” or something along those lines); the second half of the book includes his proposed solutions, including halfway houses, job placement services, and concepts that seem almost modern such as co-ops and communal gardens.

“To attempt to save the Lost, we must accept no Limitations to human brotherhood.”

While I found that latter part a bit dull and more like a sales tract, the former part was very interesting in a morbid, graphic sort of way. In it, Booth describes with very little euphemism the deprivation and degradation of the homeless, unemployed, women, elderly, children, and all the other forgotten or forsaken people who lived in what considered itself the most civilized nation in the world at that time.

“...we who call ourselves by the name of Christ are not worthy to profess to be His disciples until we have set an open door before the least and worst of these who are no apparently imprisoned for life in a horrible dungeon of misery and despair.”

This is the real world that Charles Dickens wrote about in Oliver Twist, Little Dorrit, and many of his other works. But these are not characters in a story: they are real accounts taken from real people. While I wouldn’t suggest this book to a younger audience, I would recommend it to any adult who enjoys reading Victorian literature, as a way to understand the truth behind the fiction.