Jerold S. Auerbach was born in Philadelphia on May 7, 1936. After graduating from Oberlin College, he entered Columbia Law School in the hopes of becoming a civil liberties lawyer. However, he quickly became disenchanted with the legal system and left the legal profession to pursue a career in history. He became a professor of history at Wellesley College. Auerbach's experiences with the law greatly influenced his writing. Through such works as Unequal Justice and Justice Without Law, he explored the darker side of the legal profession and struggled to understand and interpret law as it pertained to American society. His Jewish background also influenced his writing and provided us with… such works as Rabbis and Lawyers and Jacob's Voices: Reflections of a Wandering American Jew, the latter an autobiographical work.