Ray Raphael

Over the last two decades Ray Raphael has emerged as one of our leading writers on the birth of the United States. In 2001 his acclaimed People's History of the American Revolution widened history's lens to include those not generally present in tales of our nation's founding. Before turning his attention to the American Revolution and the founding of the nation, Raphael published books on subjects as diverse as male initiation rites, education, regional history (Northwest California), and timber politics. His first book, An Everyday History of Somewhere, won the Commonwealth Club award for the best book of the year about California. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate from Reed College, he holds masters degrees from the University of California at Berkeley (Political Philosophy) and Reed College (Teaching Social Science and History). In addition to teaching at Humboldt State University and College of the Redwoods, he has taught all subjects except foreign languages at a one-room public high school in his remote community.Currently, Ray serves as an associate editor for the Journal of the American Revolution and is preparing a comprehensive set of decision-centered, document-based lesson plans on the Founding Era for the Constitutional Sources Project (ConSource). He lives in northern California, where he hikes and kayaks.