Michael A. Meyer, PhD, was born in Berlin, Germany and grew up in Los Angeles, where he graduated from UCLA with highest honors. His doctorate in Jewish history is from Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, where he served as professor of Jewish history for fifty years. He has also been a guest professor at three Israeli universities and has served as president of the Association for Jewish Studies and international president of the Leo Baeck Institute. He is the recipient of three National Jewish Book Awards and has published more than two hundred scholarly articles and longer reviews. His books include The Origins of the Modern Jew, Response to Modernity: A History of the Reform Movement in Judaism, Rabbi Leo Baeck: Living a Religious Imperative in Troubled Times, and Above All, We Are Jews: A Biography of Alexander Schindler. He is the recipient of an honorary degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Cross of Merit from the German Federal Republic.