Raised as a Protestant in the Texas Bible Belt, Bryan was surprised to learn of his own Jewish ancestry while researching his family tree in Germany. This revelation, as well as a chance encounter with a Jewish veteran of the Wehrmacht, roused him to embark on a decade of research while a student first at Yale University and later at Cambridge University.

Crisscrossing Germany by bicycle Bryan located and interviewed more than four hundred "Mischlinge" (partial Jews as labeled under Hitler's racial laws) and their relatives and friends. His quest also took him to Sweden, Canada, Israel, and Turkey. In addition, he scrupulously labored to provide documentary evidence to support the findings from each oral history. "Hitler's Jewish Soldiers: The Untold Story of Nazi Racial Laws and Men of Jewish Descent in the German Military" is the result of his efforts.

Although earning trust was often challenging and some men refused to speak with Bryan, he also encountered many who were grateful for the opportunity at last to discuss this part of their lives in war. In some cases the men's families knew little or nothing of their hidden religious heritage. "They don't know where they stand. There is no place for them to tell their story. No one thought it was an issue, and neither side wants to claim them."

Bryan's work has been featured in the "The New York Times," "Los Angeles Times," "The London Daily Telegraph" and on programs including "NBC Dateline" and Fox News and Al Jazeera International.

Bryan received his B.A. with honors in history from Yale University in 1996. Yale awarded him the Henry Fellowship for graduate study at Cambridge University, where he received his M.A. in 1997 and Ph.D. in 2002. He served as a volunteer in the Israeli Army and as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. He is a former professor of History at American Military University and Southern Methodist University.