Michael Lasser is a lecturer, writer, broadcaster, critic, and teacher. He is the author of America’s Songs II: From the 1890s to the Post-War Years (2013), a companion volume to his and Philip Furia’s America’s Songs: The Stories Behind the Songs of Broadway, Hollywood, and Tin Pan Alley (2006). Since 1980, he has been the host of the nationally syndicated public radio show, Fascinatin’ Rhythm, winner of a 1994 Peabody Award. A graduate of Dartmouth College, he is the former theater critic for The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle and CITY Newspaper, and for 30 years has spoken at museums and universities around the country. In 2010, he was named a Thomas P. Johnson Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Rollins College. He is currently at work on a third book, The Song Is Us: Love, Lyrics & American Life, 1900-1950.