William Robertson Smith (1846-94) was one of the most profound and versatile Victorian thinkers--a principal figure in the development of social anthropology and the founder of modern sociology of religion. In W. Robertson Smith and the Sociological Study of Religion, T. O. Beidelman, a renowned anthropologist and ethnographer, relates Smith's personality and career to the radical nature of his investigations. His study contains the only readily available account of Smith's life, and represents the only attempt to place Smith's work within the contemporary perspective of the field of social studies.