Ronald M. James has taught and published in the fields of history and folklore for five decades. He was adjunct faculty at the University of Nevada, Reno, and is a retired state historic preservation officer, also serving as chair of the National Historic Landmarks Committee. An I.T.T. Fellow studying folklore in Ireland, 1981-1982, he is a bard in the Gorsedh Kernow. He has authored or co-authored 18 books and contributed chapters and articles to many more, including The Folklore of Cornwall: The Oral Tradition of a Celtic Nation (UEP, 2018), which was a finalist for the Katharine Briggs Award.