George Wharton James (27 September 1858[1] – 8 November 1923)[2] was an American popular lecturer, photographer, journalist and editor.

[3] Both men also explored the American Southwest, becoming acquainted with Father Anton Docher, a French-born missionary priest who served at Pueblo of Isleta in New Mexico for 34 years.

James's books included the well-received The Wonders of the Colorado Desert (1906),[5] Through Ramona's Country (1909), In and Out of the Old Missions of California (1905), and The Lake of the Sky (1915).

Characteristics of his writing included romanticism, an enthusiasm for natural environments, the idealization of aboriginal lifeways, and the promotion of health fads.

According to Powell, the Anti-Whispering Society was "devoted to the suppression of (1) talking audiences, (2) peanut fiends, and (3) crying babies.