W. T. Stead (1849-1912) was a newspaper editor, author, social reformer, advocate for women rights, peace campaigner, spiritualist, and one of the best-known public figures in the late Victorian and Edwardian Britain. W. T. Stead: Nonconformist and Newspaper Prophet provides a compelling religious biography of Stead, offering particular attention to his conception of journalism--in an age of growing mass literacy--as a means to communicate religious truth and morality, and his view of the editor's desk as a modern pulpit. Leading scholar, Stewart J. Brown explores how his Nonconformist Conscience and sense of divine calling infused Stead's newspaper crusades-most famously his 'Maiden Tribute' campaign against child prostitution. The biography also examines Stead's growing interest in spiritualism and the occult, as he searched for the evidence of an afterlife that might draw people in a more secular age back to faith. It discusses his imperialism and his belief in the English-speaking peoples of the British Empire and American Republic as God's new chosen people for the spread of civilisation; and it highlights how his growing understanding of other faiths and cultures--but more especially his moral revulsion over the South African War of 1899-1902--brought him to question those beliefs. Finally, it assesses the influence of religious faith on his campaigns for world peace and the arbitration of international disputes.

About the Author
Stewart J. Brown is Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Edinburgh. He has lectured widely in Europe, China, Australia, India, and the USA, and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He served as co-editor of the Scottish Historical Review from 1993 to 1999. His publications include The Oxford Handbook of the Oxford Movement (2017), The Oxford Movement: Europe and the Wider World 1830-1930 (2014), and The National Churches of England, Ireland, and Scotland 1801-46 (2001).

Reviews
The great strength of Stewart Brown's biography is that he lets you make up your own mind. His account is lucid and fair-minded throughout, laying the facts on the table. Access to Stead's private journal allows him to illuminate the personal ideas and emotions that lie behind the manifold campaigns. * Peter Ackers, Journal of Ecclesiastical History *
...this book enables us to gain greater insight into the aims and objectives of this remarkable man. Stewart J. Brown is to be commended for writing a compelling religious biography of Stead. * Brian Talbot, Scottish Church History *
As a biography, Brown has produced a comprehensive and readable account of a complex and multi-faceted life which, one might argue, deserves to be known on a much wider scale... a welcome contribution toward increasing the public profile of a remarkable figure in British journalism. * George Adams, Susquehanna University *
Brown's religious biography is a welcome and vital addition to our study of one of the nineteenth century's most intriguing and paradoxical figures. * Helena Goodwyn, Journal of Victorian Culture *
Brown has done a real service by fleshing out Stead's larger accomplishments as a 'newspaper editor, author, social reformer, women's tights advocate, and spiritualist,' all of which made him 'one of the best-known public figures in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain'. * Brian C. Wilson, Western Michigan University, Religion *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198832539
Author Stewart J. Brown
Format Hardback
Page Count 244
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Dimensions(mm) 202mm * 134mm * 20mm