Max Simon Nordau was a Zionist leader, doctor, writer, and social commentator. He co-founded the Zionist Organization with Theodor Herzl and served as president or vice-president of various Zionist congresses. As a social commentator, he published The Conventional Lies of Our Civilization (1883), Degeneration (1892), and Paradoxes (1896). Although Degeneration was not his most popular or profitable work while alive, it is the book that is most recognized and cited now. Simon (Simcha) Maximilian Südfeld (after Max Nordau) was born in Pest, Kingdom of Hungary, which was part of the Austrian Empire. His father, Gabriel Südfeld, was a rabbi who also worked as a Hebrew tutor. Simon Maximilian Sudfeld was born in Pest, Kingdom of Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire). His father, Gabriel Sudfeld, worked as a Hebrew tutor in addition to being a rabbi. Nordau, an Orthodox Jew, attended a Jewish elementary school before receiving a medical degree from the University of Pest in 1872. He then traveled for six years, visiting the major nations of Europe. He changed his name before traveling to Berlin in 1873. In 1878, he began practicing medicine in Budapest. In 1880, he traveled to Paris. He was a correspondent for Neue Freie Presse in Paris and lived there for the majority of his life.
