James Rawls
Faculty - History, Pleasant Hill Campus
James J. Rawls, a native of Washington, D.C., received his B.A. with honors from Stanford University and his Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author or editor of more than thirty books in California and United States history. He served as a consultant for Walt Disney Imagineering in the development of Disney California Adventure theme park and is the editor of a multi-volume children's history series. For five years, he appeared as Dr. History on KNBR Radio, San Francisco, and for more than a quarter century he was the Reviews Editor of the quarterly California History: The Journal of the California Historical Society. Rawls has taught at Diablo Valley College, San Francisco State University, and the University of California, Berkeley; he is a Fellow of the California Historical Society and a recipient of the National Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Texas. He currently serves as a lecturer on voyages worldwide for Lindblad Expeditions and the National Geographic Society.