Customer Reviews

William and Catherine: The Life and Legacy of the Booths: Founders of the Salvation Army

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sensitive, engaging, historical account of the lives of the two founders of the Salvation Army. Peronal letters between these two sweethearts, then husband and wife as well as life-long evangelists, detail the outstanding faith and human struggle it took to start an army in the slums and in opposition to the "old church hierarchy" which did not want to deal with the "riff-raff." The dedication of the first salvationists often meant placing themselves in harms way as angry mobs jeered and soldiers lost their lives. Still, the Army grew stronger and stronger. Every paragraph in this book is engaging...and I generally find historical accounts very boring. If you are looking for an exciting and sensitive historical account and wish to be enaged spiritually as well, this is a must read.

This wonderful book, published in 2003, will answer all your questions about the Salvation Army. I always wondered how it all began and when, and how it has evolved. I hope Mr. Yaxley will consider a sequel and write about the Army as it exists today. This book ends just as Evangeline Booth begins her leadership in America in the last century

I recommend this biography by Trevor Yaxley because of all the information, the look inside England in the mid eighteen hundreds, the easy to read can't put this book down style, and the almost unbelievable accomplishments of these two beloved people, William and Catherine Booth. There is a timeline and family tree in back of the book as well as good pictures.

The epilogue, entitled The Challenge, consists of the last public address by Catherine Booth, to two thousand delegates of her "army" in London on June 21, 1888. It is remarkable, challenging, and inspired.

Quoting from the first chapter is a paragraph by Paul Smith - here it is: "On April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee met Ulysses S. Grant in the parlor of a private home at Appomattox Court House. He surrendered his army, bringing to an end four long years of death and devastation called the American Civil War. In the same year, a thirty six year old Englishman by the name of William Booth declared war on the powers of darness by founding The Salvation Army."

The multitudes of people living in poverty and without dignity inspired the Booths to declare this spiritual War and with great love and compassion, they gave hope to the helpless by offering faith in God (salvation thru Christ) food (soup kitchens) clothing, and employment, and a purpose (serving in the Army to help others as they were helped and lifted up).

The story of the Booths is all about a couple in love and a passion for helping desperate destitute people and giving spiritual and physical help - so innovative was their work, that what began in England gradually spread throughout the world and they also raised many children who continued in the work of helping the poor. Today, the Salvation Army is first to appear when disasters occur anywhere in the world - want to join!

I loved the book and you will too. I never even imagined what this "Army" was all about until I came across this biography.

Based on other reviews of the book, I chose it over other available biographies because of its thoroughly Christian perspective and appreciation of the legacy of the Booths. Overall, it does provide a decent overview of the development of the Booths' ministry and the founding of the Salvation Army. In many places, however, it goes into too much detail and is very redundant while in others it sweeps over and hardly discusses equally (or more) important details and developments. For example, the book vividly discusses Catherine Booth's zeal for holiness and her love for the poor, as well as her passion as a preacher in her own right, while failing to fully capture William Booth's zeal for the same. The book contains more excerpts from William's love letters to Catherine than it does from his sermons, addresses and writings.

The most difficult part of reading this book was its wordiness. The first third of the book reads more like a romance novel than the historical biography and ministerial history I hoped it would be. To give you an example, chapter 4 begins, "Catherine's eyes could hardly take in the full beauty of the magnificent Guernsey coastline as she strolled arm in arm with William along the boat deck. Rugged rocky cliffs rose majestically out of the azure waters, interspersed with small, sheltered bays of golden, sandy beaches. The warmth of the afternoon sun was like a tonic to the soul. Gratitude to God arose spontaneously in Catherine's heart as her thoughts drifted back over their first week of married life" (p. 88). Much of the first third of the book reads in this manner.

While I don't want to be too critical of the book, especially because it was written out of a deep love for and appreciation of the Booths' lives and legacy (an appreciation I myself share), the book was a very slow and disappointing read for me because of its wordiness and "flowery" language. While it sought to convey to its readers the zeal and passion the Booths had for evangelism, holiness and ministry to the poor, the zeal and passion was lost (for me at least) in the "romance novel" approach of the authors. For that reason I say it's just an "okay" read--I benefitted from it, but if I had it to do over again, I would choose to read a different account of the Booths' life and work.

This book is very detailed in its description of the life of the Booths. The details can get challenging to wade through. If you like one given to details, you will love it.

Loved this book! I love the fact that they brought some of the Booth's beliefs into the book. This reminds me of what the Holiness church is today. It's also very inspiring when you read about how they helped so many people. Plus, it is nice to read about people who were most interested in the primary goal of salvation of souls.