Gertrude Himmelfarb is Distinguished Professor of History at the Graduate School of the City University of New York. She was born in 1922 and educated at Brooklyn College, the Jewish Theological Seminary, and the University of Chicago. She is a fellow of the British Academy, the Royal Historical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1991, she was named Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Her books include: The De-Moralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values (1995); On Looking into the Abyss: Untimely Thoughts on Culture and Society (1994); Poverty and Compassion: The Moral Imagination of the Late Victorians (1991); The New History and the Old (1987); Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians (1986) ; The Idea of Poverty: England in the Early Industrial Age (1984); On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill (1975); Victorian Minds (1968), nominated for a National Book Award; Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution (1959); and Lord Acton: A Study in Conscience and Politics (1952). Her most recent book is One Nation, Two Cultures (1999).

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