Leo Wiener was an American historian, linguist, author, and translator born in Białystok, Poland in 1862. He became well known for his scholarly work on Slavic languages and his extensive writings on Yiddish culture and literature. Wiener published several significant historical works throughout his career, including "The History of Yiddish Literature in the Nineteenth Century" (1889), "Africa and the Discovery of America" (1922), and "Mayan and Mexican Origins" (1926). These works demonstrated his broad intellectual interests spanning European cultural history and pre-Columbian studies. He is also recognized for his complete edition of Leo Tolstoy's works, which provided a very literal translation from the Russian original. While this comprehensive edition retained scholarly value, his translations of Tolstoy's most celebrated novels, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, were largely overshadowed by the translations of Constance Garnett and Aylmer Maude, which became more widely read. Wiener died in Belmont, Massachusetts in 1939.