Melvin I. Urofsky (b. 1939) Two Scenes from a Hospital LINKS Basic Readings in U.S. Democracy http://www.civnet.org/resoures/teach/basic/content.htm Urofsky, who is the editor of this compilation of readings, has written its preface, a short essay on democracy in the United States. BIOGRAPHY Melvin I. Urofsky (b. 1939)  Melvin Urofsky was born and grew up in New York City, where he earned an A.B. (1961), M.A. (1962), and Ph.D. (1968) from Columbia University. He taught at Ohio State University, State University of New York at Albany, and is chair of the history department at Virginia Commonwealth University. In 1984, he earned a law degree from the University of Virginia. He has written and edited more than fifteen books, including a four-volume edition of the letters of Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis (with David W. Levy, 1971–1978). Urofsky has written and edited several books on the American Jewish experience, and was chair of the Zionist Academic Council (1976–1979). In Letting Go: Death, Dying, and the Law (1993), he examines the vexing relationships among dying patients, their physicians, their families, medical ethics, and the law. His most recent works are The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary (1994) and Affirmative Action on Trial: Sex Discrimination in Johnson v. Santa Clara (1997).