Describing the faith and accomplishments of a self-giving and God-centered world-changer, this portrait is most concerned with Mother Booth's intellectual and spiritual journey. That journey was shaped by revivalists, social activists, and feminists. Booth, in turn, influenced the movement she headed through life-long fidelity to the doctrine of entire sanctification and her conviction that a Christian must be fully consecrated to God.

An uneducated youth, William Booth left home in 1849 at the age of twenty to preach the gospel for the New Methodist Connexion. Six years later he founded a new religious movement which succeeded to such a degree that the Salvation Army (which it became) is now a worldwide operation with massive membership. But that is only part of Booth's importance and heritage. In many ways his story is also that of the Victorian poor, as he and his wife Catherine made it their lives' work to battle against the poverty and deprivation which were endemic in the mid- to late 1800s. Indeed, it was Catherine who, although a chronic invalid, inspired the Army's social policy and attitude to female authority. Her campaign against child prostitution resulted in the age of consent being raised and it was Catherine who, dying of cancer, encouraged William to clear the slums -- In Darkest England, The Way Out. Roy Hattersley's masterful dual biography is not just the story of two fascinating lives but a portrait of an integral part of our history.

A highly readable biography, perfect for students, educators, and social activists, about the couple who founded the Salvation Army.

Excerpt from The Short Life of Catherine Booth: The Mother of the Salvation Army But I said, I have been helped. Yes, I have been helped by God - helped by the remembrance that she of whom I wrote was indeed a prophet of the Most High, and that it could not but please Him that the messages which had been uttered through her lips and life should be repeated through the medium of these pages - helped by the thought that it would be a comfort to her family, and an inspiration to our Army, and to tens of thousands outside our ranks, to read a record Of such devoted service. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.