James McCommons is an emeritus professor at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan where he taught journalism and nature writing for 20 years.

He is the author of the narrative, non-fiction book: Waiting on a Train: The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail.  Published in 2009 by Chelsea Green, Waiting on a Train was named by The Library Journal as a “Best Pick for Fall” and one of its best books of 2009.

In 2019, the University of New Mexico Press published his biography of George Shiras III, a conservationist of the early 20th century and a pioneer in wildlife photography. Camera Hunter: George Shiras III and the Birth of Wildlife Photography is a product of several years of scholarship and academic research.

His third book, The Feather Wars and Great Crusade to Save America’s Birds, will be released March 17, 2026 by St. Martin’s Press.

He is a veteran journalist, specializing in ecology, environmental and travel topics. He has written hundreds of general interest magazine articles contributing to Better Homes and Gardens, Audubon, the History Channel, Next American City, Wildlife Conservation, Organic Gardening, Backpacker, The Oregonian, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minneapolis Star and Tribune, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

He attended the Art Institute of Boston majoring in photography and later earned a B.A. in English/Writing from the University of Pittsburgh. After several years of newspaper work and a stint in corporate communications, he earned an M.A. in magazine journalism from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and an M.S. in environmental science from College of Environmental Science and Forestry-SUNY.  He taught as an adjunct professor at Syracuse University and Muhlenberg College and DeSales University in Allentown, Pa.

In 1997, he joined Rodale Press in Emmaus, Pa. as a senior health writer and member of a writing team that produced several books for the Prevention and Men's Health brands. He became a senior editor at Organic Gardening magazine until he left to pursue a fulltime teaching career in 2001.

He is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors. He is represented by Sorche Fairbank https://fairbankliterary.com/