"Albert Miller examines Theophilus Gould Steward's accomplishments and writings - including his unpublished manuscripts and his overlooked Victorian novel - to assess the ideas that he left to posterity and to consider how they shaped his times. The book devotes individual chapters to the key themes that dominated Steward's life: African American education, reconciling theology with modern science, the intersection of rational theology and moral virtues, the contradictions of race, the role of women in African American civil society, and Steward's views on the military and imperialism."--BOOK JACKET.