Catherine Booth: From Timidity to Boldness tells the story of Catherine Booth's dramatic early life, and how a timid young woman rose from a home damaged by alcohol to become a dynamic and popular preacher, campaigner for the rights of women and, with her husband, founder of The Salvation Army. Author David Malcolm Bennett has spent much of his life studying Catherine and William Booth and the early days of The Salvation Army. He makes significant and revealing use of the letters that Catherine and William Booth wrote to each other, the letters she wrote to her parents, and Catherine's diary and reminiscences. It is the first biography of Catherine Booth to make use of the complete transcribed editions of each of these works. In Catherine Booth: From Timidity to Boldness, Catherine is allowed to speak for herself and what she says is frequently dynamic and, at different times, insightful, deeply spiritual, and, occasionally, controversial.