WHICH SIDE ARE THE HOMELESS ON?

In his review of Jack London’s classic “People of the Abyss” (Book Review, April 16), Ross Miller described how the young London lived among the homeless in 1902 East London to gain personal insight into the “underside” of urban life. Beginning at age 33, I experienced years of homelessness in big cities. Among the “lost souls” that I met and knew in slums and missions were a former All-American football star, a former U.S. Navy officer pilot, a Protestant minister, a brilliant pianist and the younger brother of a celebrated American movie star. It’s a wonder I didn’t give up and become a lost alcoholic. But through the love of the woman I later married and a strong trust in God, I found myself and managed to regain a respectable position in American society.

KENNETH LLOYD LARSON

LOS ANGELES