In late Victorian and Edwardian England, says Steven Maughan, foreign missions had a broad resonance and significance not adequately explored by historians of English culture. Mighty England Do Good fills that lacuna by examining the rapid growth of foreign missions in the Church of England between 1850 and 1915, culminating at the height of the missionary enterprise in Britain. Maughan's book bridges the gaps between religious, cultural, and imperial history to give a full picture of the movement's importance.

Maughan explores Anglicanism as a microcosm of the larger religious...