num_pages: 388
description: In 1902, Jack London purchased some secondhand clothes and, posing as a stranded American sailor, set out to discover how the London poor lived. His research makes shocking reading. Moving through the slums as one of the poor; eating, drinking, and socializing with the underclass; lining up to get into a flophouse, London was scandalized and brutalized by the experience of living rough in Britain’s capital. His clear-eyed reflections on the iniquities of class are a shaming testament to the persistence of social inequality in modern times.A facsimile of the 1903 edition, this firsthand report of the plight of the poor at the end of the 19th century in the East End of London is a powerful indictment of economic injustice in the industrialized West.
language: English
title: The People of the Abyss
titlecomplete: The People of the Abyss
characters: Jack London
genres: Classics, British Literature, Historical, History, Travel, Sociology, American, Nonfiction, Poverty, Politics
ratings_count: 4559
places: London, England
publisher: Lawrence Hill Books