Blood and Fire

The legacy of William and Catherine Booth lives on in the Salvation Army, the remarkable religious movement they started in the mid-nineteenth century. "Blood and Fire" is a sympathetic yet balanced portrait of these two great social activists and religious leaders, their progressive ideas, and their unique contributions to social equality as individuals and as a married couple.At the age of twenty, William Booth (1829-1912), a pawnbroker's clerk, developed the unshakable belief that God had ordained him to convert the world to Christianity. Convinced that the churches in England were ignoring the needs of the poor, he founded the East London Christian Mission, which evolved into the Salvation Army. Although Booth's military approach was criticized by other Christian organizations, he recruited thousands of members around the globe. His wife, Catherine, a chronic invalid and the mother of eight, was his hardworking partner and inspired the social policy that remains an essential part of the Salvation Army. A woman ahead of her time, Catherine demanded equality for female officers at a time when women were viewed as subservient to men. Her campaign against child prostitution resulted in the age of consent being raised from thirteen to sixteen. Even as she was dying of cancer, she urged William to pursue plans for clearing London's slums.

Worldwide membership in the Salvation Army now numbers in the hundreds of thousands. A beautifully crafted combination of personal and social history, this biography of the Booths shines a light on the religious and moral principles that remain at its heart today.