Having already completed his first book, The Birth of Conservative Judaism: Solomon Schechter’s Disciples and the Creation of an American Religious Movement, forthcoming from Columbia University Press, he is now turning his attention to a new book-length project that will explore the role of Jews in the cotton industry from 1840-1900. In his study, he will argue that the flow of capital between North and South led to a Jewish middle class in the Gulf South while simultaneously fueling anti-Semitism and the rise of such groups as the Klan. Previously winning a Monroe Fellowship, Michael has already given several conference papers on this subject. With the Glick Fellowship, he will travel to the American Jewish Archives and Harvard Business School’s Baker Library.