An active collector of Civil War era cartes de visite, Ron is the author of four books that document the lives of citizen soldiers in blue and gray: "Faces of the Civil War," "Faces of the Confederacy," "African American Faces of the Civil War" and "Faces of the Civil War Navies." The Johns Hopkins University Press published all the volumes.

Ron is formerly a columnist for the Civil War News and contributing author to the award-winning New York Times series Disunion. He has more than 30 years experience as a journalist at USA TODAY, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the San Jose Mercury News, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.