Lewis H. Siegelbaum is Jack and Margaret Sweet Professor Emeritus of History at Michigan State University (retired in 2018). His interests include 20th century Europe, Russia and Soviet Union. He has been with MSU since 1983.[1][2]
Lewis Siegelbaum was born in New York to a secular Jewish family.[3] He states that the initial selection of the area of scientific interest was influenced by Communist views of his father, who was member of the Communist Party of the USA since 1939. As a student of Columbia University, Lewis Siegelbaum took part in protests against the Vietnam War. (In retrospection Siegelbaum stresses the naivete of the student rebels.) [3]
His doctorate (Oxford University, 1975) was on the history of the Central War-Industries Committee , an organization which tried to coordinate Russian industry during World War I. After the doctorate he was with the La Trobe University, Australia, and in 1983 he moved to Michigan State University[3]