Leonard Herman, The Game Scholar, is regarded as one of the earliest videogame historians. The first edition of Phoenix: The Rise and Fall of Home Videogames which was published in 1994, is considered to be the first serious and comprehensive book about the history of videogames. To date, there have been four editions of Phoenix, with Phoenix IV: the History of the Videogame Industry, published in 2016, being the most recent.
In 1994, Mr. Herman founded Rolenta Press, a publisher of videogame books, whose catalogue included Video Games: In the Beginning by Ralph H. Baer (the inventor of the videogame console), and Confessions of the Game Doctor, by Bill Kunkel.
Mr. Herman has served as an advisor for Videotopia, Classic Gaming Expo, and The National Videogame Museum. He has appeared in several episodes of G4’s Icons, and in the documentary the Kings of Arcades.