The Author (The Rev. David Wilkerson)

At the time the book was written (the late 1950's), the author was in his late twenties and early thirties and the pastor of a small, rural Pentecostal church, when he received a spiritual call to minister to the troubled young people of New York City. While an exploration of the development of his personal character is far from the main point of the narrative, it's important to note that he does undergo considerable personal transformation over the course of his story. As he himself suggests, he appears in the narrative as initially naïve in the ways of the city, its inhabitants and its troubles, particularly those of the young people he feels called to help. As he becomes more and more deeply involved in his mission, in many ways he becomes more and more worldly, not only exposed to the darker...