Michael James attended public schools in Los Angeles where he graduated from The California State University and did his graduate work at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. He is currently professor and Chair of the Education Department at Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut. He has published extensively in the history of education. His most recent book is an edited volume of essays, Social Reconstruction Through Education (1995). He lives in Lyme, Connecticut, with his wife and three children.