Ashley Montagu (1905–1999) was born in London, England, but became a naturalized US citizen in 1940. He studied under Bronislaw Malinowski at the London School of Economics and later, at Columbia University, under Franz Boas and Ruth Benedict.

A casualty of McCarthyism, Montagu was forced from his position at Rutgers University in 1953, and spent the rest of his life outside of the university system, focusing instead on writing for a popular audience.

His two most influential books were Man’s Most Dangerous Myth—The Fallacy Of Race (1942) and The Natural Superiority of Women (1953). Montagu also wrote The Elephant Man—A Study in Human Dignity, which in part was used as source material for Bernard Pomerance’s Tony Award winning Broadway play and later for David Lynch’s Oscar nominated movie.