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Audiobook edition · 14 h 6 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the darkest forest lies not overseas, but in the streets where hungry people sleep?
In In Darkest England, and the Way Out, William Booth turns attention toward the poor of Victorian Britain. The founder of the Salvation Army describes street sleepers, slum dwellers and workers trapped by low pay. He asks why suffering abroad draws sympathy while hunger and homelessness close to home remain beyond the reach of much charity.
Booth writes as a preacher and fundraiser, not a detached observer. He first names the causes of misery, then sets out his proposed escape route: city shelters and workshops, farm colonies in England, and a colony overseas. His urgent question runs through the plan: what practical help gives people a chance to stand again?
What you’ll discover
- A forest beneath London See how Booth turns an image of distant forests toward suffering in familiar streets.
- The Cab Horse Charter Explore his humane demand that a fallen person receive the help given a fallen horse.
- Food, shelter and work Follow the City Colony proposal, where immediate relief connects with workshops and practical work.
- Help for particular needs Discover why Booth proposes special help for women, prisoners and people struggling with drink.
- A path beyond the city Examine his proposed farm colonies and overseas settlement as further stages of his scheme.
Who will love it
Readers of Victorian London, social history and the story of charity will find it rich, and so will anyone curious about the Salvation Army.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- London has a dark forest of its own
- Count the lost and set a modest standard
- Most of the homeless want work, not charity
- Drink, vice and prison trap those at the bottom
- Existing remedies leave the great mass untouched
- Judge any scheme by seven plain tests
- The City Colony turns shelter into a way back
- The Farm and Overseas Colonies complete the ladder
- Rescue work reaches those the ladder misses
- Can it be done, and what will it cost?
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In Darkest England, and the Way Out
by William Booth · 1890
Booth counts three million Britons sunk in misery and plans a way out through city, farm and overseas colonies.
Challenging10–20 hours to readEnglish
Excellent
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In short
What if the deepest jungle on earth lay a short walk from St Paul's? In 1890 William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, took Henry Stanley's account of crossing the African forest and held it up to London.
In Darkest England, and the Way Out at a glance
- Reading time
- About 8 h6 h 20 min fast, 9 h 30 min slow
- Length
- 113,800 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1890by William Booth
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
London has a dark forest of its own
Booth opens with Henry Stanley, whose crossing of the African forest had gripped the public that summer. Stanley marched for one hundred and sixty days through trees so thick that no sunbeam reached the ground. Booth reads that scene as a mirror held up to London.
The ivory raiders become the tavern keepers who live off the weakness of the poor. Gin shops stand on every corner the way streams cross the forest. Fever, slavery and despair rule both places. A pretty orphan without money is hunted from one employer to the next and offered a choice between starving and sinning.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1890
- Language
- English
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Booth, William. In Darkest England, and the Way Out. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-darkest-england-and-the-way-out.
Booth, W. (2026). In darkest England, and the way out. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-darkest-england-and-the-way-out (Original work published 1890)
Booth, William. In Darkest England, and the Way Out. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-darkest-england-and-the-way-out.
@book{booth2026darkest,
author = {Booth, William},
title = {In Darkest England, and the Way Out},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-darkest-england-and-the-way-out},
note = {First published 1890}
}
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What is In Darkest England, and the Way Out about?
It describes the poverty of Victorian Britain, estimating three million people sunk in destitution, drink and crime. Booth then proposes a Scheme of city shelters and workshops, a farm colony and an overseas colony to give them work and a new start.
Why did Booth call it Darkest England?
He borrowed the title from Henry Stanley's account of Darkest Africa. Booth compared the dense, sunless forest and its hunted people with London's slums, where gin shops, sweated labor and despair play the part of raiders and jungle.
What is the Submerged Tenth?
It is Booth's name for roughly three million destitute Britons, about one in ten, including the homeless, starving and those living on the borderline. They include paupers, the homeless, the starving, criminals and drunkards, and he argues that they can be rescued.
The author
William Booth
1829–1912 · British preacher and Salvationist founder
William Booth was born in Nottingham, England, in 1829 and died in London in 1912. He was a Methodist preacher. In 1865, he and his wife, Catherine, founded a mission in London that became the Salvation Army. He published In Darkest England and the Way Out in 1890.
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