Jack London
American author, Jack London, lived undercover in the East End of the city of London (including the Whitechapel District) for several months in 1902, sometimes staying in workhouses or sleeping on the streets; the book is a first-hand account based on that time, of conditions said to be the same as those for an estimated 500,000 in the Victorian city. H.G.Wells had used the phrase, "people of the abyss", to describe them in his book of the previous year.
