Research Bio

John Efron is a historian whose research explores Jewish cultural and intellectual history in modern Europe. He is best known for his studies on the relationship between Jews and medicine, Jews and aesthetics, and most recently, Jewish foodways. Efron’s scholarship integrates intellectual history, cultural studies, and history of science to understand how German Jewry engaged with modernity, assimilation, and antisemitism. His work contributes to broader discussions of religion, science, and identity in modern Europe.

He is Koret Professor of Jewish History in the Department of History at UC Berkeley and is former Director of the Center for Jewish Studies as well as the Magnes Collection. His books include Defenders of the Race: Jewish Doctors and Race Science in Fin-de-Siècle Europe, Medicine and the German Jews, German Jewry and the Allure of the Sephardic, and most recently, All Consuming: Germans, Jews, and the Meaning of Meat and The Jews: A Modern History. Efron’s essays have appeared in Jewish Quarterly Review, Sport in History, Human Biology, Bulletin of the History of Medicine, and Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook. He has received fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the National Endowment for the Humanities. At Berkeley, he teaches modern European and Jewish history, mentoring students in cultural and intellectual history.

Research Expertise and Interest

Cultural and social history of German Jewry