Fritz Stern was University Professor emeritus and former Provost of Columbia University. Professor Stern specialized in Modern European History, particularly German history, Jewish history, and historiography. He received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from Columbia University. His publications include: The Politics of Cultural Despair (1963); The Varieties of History: From Voltaire to the Present (1956); Gold and Iron (1977); The Failure of Illiberalism (1973); Dreams and Delusions (1987); Einstein's German World (1999); and Five Germanys I Have Known (2006).