The controversialist : an intellectual life of Goldwin Smith / Paul T. Phillips.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Phillips, Paul T., 1942-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Smith, Goldwin, 1823-1910.

Smith, Goldwin.

College teachers--England--Biography.

College teachers.

Journalists--England--Biography.

Journalists.

Journalists--Ontario--Toronto--Biography.

Toronto (Ont.)--Biography.

Toronto (Ont.).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (210 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Distribution:

London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024

Place of Publication:

Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Goldwin Smith (1823-1910) was a celebrated, transatlantic writer on current events, politics, religion, history, and literature. While he made his academic mark teaching at Oxford, Cornell, and later as a resident guru at Toronto, his facile pen earned him a far greater reputation with general readers throughout the English-speaking world. Determined to rouse concern over issues that he deemed to be important to the advancement of humanity, Smith was deemed the controversialist by the Dictionary of National Biography. A study of his life and his writings provides new insight into liberalism, anti-semitism, the role of the journalist, and other aspects of life in late 19th century North America and Britain. As a public intellectual, Goldwin Smith spoke out on a variety of issues, frequently provoking intense debate. Phillips argues that the core of Smith's thought and the driving force behind his role as a controversialist lay in his moral philosophy, which provided a sense of direction to Smith's many and sometimes disparate writings and activities. This study will also probe the serious dilemma posed by Smith's path to agnosticism in the last decades of his life. By moving to a position of virtual unbelief, Smith risked damage not only to his carefully-crafted public persona, but also to a life's work as an impassioned moralist.

Contents:

Cover

The Controversialist

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

NOTES

Chapter 1 Early Life

FROM READING TO OXFORD

REFORM AT OXFORD

Chapter 2 The Regius Professor

Chapter 3 From Academic to Sage

Chapter 4 Historian at Large

Chapter 5 The Transatlantic Liberal

FREEDOM AND THE REMOVAL OF PRIVILEGE

ORDERLY PROGRESS

A CULTURE OF PROGRESS

ANGLO-SAXONDOM

Chapter 6 Anti-Semitism

Chapter 7 Into the Abyss

NO REFUGE BUT IN TRUTH: THE PERILS OF FREETHOUGHT

TOWARD THE LEVIATHAN

Epilogue: Guesses at the Riddle of Goldwin Smith

Bibliography

PRIMARY MANUSCRIPT SOURCES

PRIMARY PRINTED SOURCES

Some Well-Known Books by Goldwin Smith

Selected Works of Relevance by Authors Contemporary with Goldwin Smith

SELECTED SECONDARY SOURCES

Index

About the Author.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [179]-192) and index.

ISBN:

9798400631733

9786610422739

9781280422737

1280422734

9780313010934

0313010935

OCLC:

70734315