The son of two Holo­caust sur­vivors and the first per­son in his fam­i­ly to go to col­lege Steven J. Ross is an emi­nent his­to­ri­an of film and Amer­i­can his­to­ry. He is recip­i­ent of the Acad­e­my of Motion Pic­ture Arts and Sci­ences’ Film Schol­ars Award and author of the prize-win­ning book ​“Hol­ly­wood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped Amer­i­can Pol­i­tics.” He teach­es at the Uni­ver­si­ty of South­ern Cal­i­for­nia where he also directs the Cas­den Insti­tute for the Study of Amer­i­can Jew­ish Life.