Jim holds a Ph.D. in Archaeology from Simon Fraser University, has a M.A. in Maritime Studies from East Carolina University, and he earned his B.A. in History from San Francisco State University. He has published actively in leading archaeology and history journals and has written, co-authored or edited more than 33 books on archaeology and history, most recently The Great Museum of the Sea: A Human History, which will be released on July 1, 2025.  Other titles include Clotilda: The History and Archaeology of the Last Slave Ship,  The Curse of the Somers: The Secret History behind the U.S. Navy’s Most Infamous Mutiny, War At Sea: A Shipwrecked History from Antiquity to the Twentieth Century (winner of the 2021 Deetz Award), Robert J. Walker: The History and Archaeology of a U.S. Coast Survey Steamship, The Lost Submarines of Pearl Harbor: The Rediscovery and Archaeology of Japan’s Top-Secret Midget Submarines of World War II, The Maritime Landscape of the Isthmus of Panama,  Misadventures of a Civil War Submarine: Iron, Guns, and Pearls, Silent Killers: Submarines and Underwater Warfare, Nuclear Dawn: The Atomic Bomb from the Manhattan Project to the Cold War (winner of the 2011 Choice Award), Khubilai Khan’s Lost Fleet: In Search a Legendary Armada (winner of the 2011 Deetz Award), Gold Rush Port: The Maritime Archaeology of San Francisco’s Waterfront, Waterfront: An Illustrated Maritime Story of Greater Vancouver, Adventures of a Sea Hunter: In Search of Famous Shipwrecks, the Encyclopedia of Underwater and Maritime Archaeology, Ghost Fleet: The Sunken Ships of Bikini Atoll, Pearl Harbor Recalled: New Images from the Day of Infamy, Great American Ships, To California by Sea: A Maritime History of the Gold Rush, and three books for children; Wrecks of American Warships, Native American Shipwrecks, and Shipwrecks of the Westward Movement.