Best known for their brass bands and uniformed officers, the Salvation Army is uniquely recognizable worldwide. What is less known is the extent of their work which goes far beyond a commitment to temperance, bugles and bibles, prayer and preaching. This is the fascinating story of how Reverend William Booth started his evangelical and philanthropic work, assisted by his wife Catherine, in East London in 1865, which became a 21st century global mission spanning more than 120 countries with support from thousands of volunteers in social welfare and education programs. This lively illustrated history tells the story of General Booth's vision, of the Salvation Army’s unique military structure, and of the way it developed in the depths of poverty-stricken mid-Victorian Britain, often in the face of opposition, to provide everything from soup kitchens and song books, Mother and baby homes to market gardens, disaster relief and, more recently, donating use of their Hadleigh Farm property as a mountain-biking course for the Olympics.