[3] Cox was a longtime professor of literature at the University of California, San Diego,[4] and the author of several non-fiction books.
After receiving his PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles, Cox joined the faculty of UC San Diego in 1976.
This included his monthly "WordWatch" column, in which he commented on how language and semantics influence culture and political discourse.
[9] Publishers Weekly called his 2009 book The Big House: Image and Reality of the American Prison "detailed and vivid".
[14] In Church History, Barry Hankins called it "provocative" with "some highly insightful observations about the ironies of American Christianity".