 Rubinstein was born in New York City, and educated at Swarthmore College and Johns Hopkins University in the United States.Rubinstein worked at Lancaster University in England from 1974 to 1975, the Australian National University in Canberra during 1976–1978, Deakin University in Victoria, Australia from 1978 to 1995, and from 1995 to 2011 worked at Aberystwyth University, Wales.At Deakin he had a personal chair in history, and at Aberystwyth he was professor of history.