Jack London's The People of the Abyss (1903) is a gripping account of the author's firsthand immersion into the poverty-stricken East End of London. Disguised as an American sailor, London lived among the destitute—sleeping in workhouses, doss-houses, and on the streets—to document the brutal realities of urban poverty in industrial England. Through vivid, unflinching prose, he portrays the struggles of the homeless, unemployed, and starving, exposing the systemic failures that trapped millions in misery. Part journalism, part social critique, the book shocked contemporary readers and remains a powerful landmark of investigative literature, illuminating class inequality and the endurance of the human spirit.
