H.N. Hirsch was born in Chicago and educated at the University of Michigan and at Princeton University. He has been on the faculties of Harvard, the University of California (San Diego), Macalester College, and Oberlin where he has served as the Dean of the Faculty and is currently Professor of Politics. He is the author of The Enigma of Felix Frankfurter and A Theory of Liberty: The Constitution and Minorities as well as the edited volume of The Future of Gay Rights in America. In addition, he is the author of numerous scholarly articles on constitutional law, gay and gender politics, and American political thought.