The People of the Abyss

The People of the Abyss is a nonfiction book by Jack London, first published in 1903. It is based on London’s own account of several weeks he spent in Whitechapel, in London’s East End, in 1902. To understand the local working-class life more closely, he stayed in workhouses, slept on the streets, and at times lived as a lodger with a poor family. The book is built from that direct experience, with London observing the area from inside it rather than from a distance.

This is a good fit for readers drawn to social observation, documentary writing, and books that treat a city as lived experience rather than background. Its strength is the close, unsentimental view of poverty and daily survival, told in a way that is personal but still grounded in what London saw around him. If you like nonfiction that combines reporting, immersion, and a strong sense of place, this sits naturally alongside other works that focus on social conditions and urban life.