The People of the Abyss

Illustrated in this edition by more than thirty of Jack London's own photographs, 'The People of the Abyss' documents the author's two months spent undercover in the East End of London in the summer of 1902. The young American writer graphically describes his first-hand experiences of the poverty and drudgery of the lives of the inhabitants. Disguised in an outfit of dirty old clothes, his frank and eye-opening account describe his visits to the area's slums, workhouses, doss-houses, park benches, pubs and coffee-shops. Above all, though, London brings us the voices of the hundreds of thousands of people for whom the harsh conditions of the East End were the backdrop to their daily struggle for survival.