DARKEST ENGLAND - AND THE WAY BACK IN
By Gary Bishop
Authentic Media. 136 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978-1-85078-834-8
Gary Bishop’s book sets out as a 21st-century adaptation of William Booth’s famous book about poverty in 19th-century England, entitled Darkest England and the way out. The writer does this by re-visiting the principles of Booth’s book as well as drawing lessons from his own involvement in church planting and community work in some of Manchester’s toughest estates.
You can’t read the book without admiring Bishop for the work that is being done in what is doubtless a dreadful situation where alcohol and drugs perpetuate a cycle of poverty and crime. Some of the statistics he uses to describe these problems are shocking. Positively, Bishop manages to write both very humbly and generously, reflecting carefully on the impact of his work and the lives of people in the community.
