Ronald Takaki was raised in a low-income area of Oahu, Hawaii. He was the descendant of Japanese immigrants who worked on the sugar plantations. He was raised by his mother and Chinese stepfather following his father's death at age seven. As a young boy, Takaki cared more for surfing than academics, earning the nickname "10-toes Takaki." During high school a Japanese American teacher encouraged him to pursue college and wrote him a letter of recommendation for the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio.

His undergraduate experiences there caused him to begin asking the kinds of questions which evolved into the foundation of his career. As one of only two Asian Americans on campus, he gained a new awareness of his ethnic identity. He was awarded a bachelor's degree in history in 1961.

His graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley led to a Masters degree in 1962 and a Ph.D in American history in 1967. His dissertation was on the subject of American slavery, focusing on the rationale for slavery. This work later became his first book: A Pro-Slavery Crusade: the Agitation to Reopen the African Slave Trade.

His initial teaching experience was at the University of California at Los Angeles, where he taught the first Black History course offered at that institution. One of his students on the first day asked what the class was going to learn about "revolutionary tactics", and he later recalled that his immediate response was to suggest that he hoped students would learn skills of critical thinking and effective writing...and that these could be quite revolutionary.

In 1972, he accepted a teaching position at Berkeley where his general survey course, "Racial Inequality in America: a Comparative Perspective", led the development of an undergraduate ethnic studies major and an ethnic studies Ph.D. program. For the next three decades, he continued to be an important contributor in the growth of the program. He was involved in developing the school's multicultural requirement for graduation: the American Cultures Requirement. The long-time Professor of Asian American Studies retired in 2004.His views, his teaching and his published works led to opportunities to share his ideas in venues around the world.

Takaki's personal experiences inspired him to devote his life to working for equality for Asian Americans and others. A seminal event in his life developed when his wife's family refused to accept him because they could only see him as a "jap" -- not as a native-born American citizen just like any one else.

Takaki committed suicide on 26 May 2009 in Berkeley, California after suffering from multiple sclerosis for nearly 20 years, according to his son Troy.

Pratt's published writings encompass 53 works in 76 publications in 3 languages and 2,174 library holdings.

• 1971 -- A Pro-slavery Crusade: The Agitation to Reopen the African Slave Trade. New York: Free Press. 10-ISBN 0-029-32430-0; 13-ISBN 978-0-029-32430-1; OCLC 135218
• 1978 -- Iron cages: race and culture in nineteenth-century America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 10-ISBN 0-394-48310-3; 13-ISBN 978-0-394-48310-8; OCLC 5171987
• 1984 -- Pau Hana: Plantation Life and Labor in Hawaii, 1835-1920. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. 10-ISBN 0-824-80956-4; 13-ISBN 978-0-824-80956-0; OCLC 13847902
• 1989 -- Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. 10-ISBN 0-833-56169-3; 13-ISBN 978-0-833-56169-5; OCLC 80125499
• 1993 -- Violence in the Black Imagination: Essays and Documents. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10-ISBN 0-195-08249-4; 13-ISBN 978-0-195-08249-4; OCLC 26858128
• 1993 -- A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. 10-ISBN 0-316-83112-3; 13-ISBN 978-0-316-83112-3; OCLC 243768090
• 1994 -- Issei and Nisei: The Settling of Japanese America, with Rebecca Steoff. New York: Facts On File. 10-ISBN 0791021793; 13-ISBN 9780791021798; OCLC 28675449
• 1994 -- From the Land of Morning Calm: The Koreans in America. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. 10-ISBN 0-791-02181-5; 13-ISBN 978-0-791-02181-1; OCLC 29478707
• 1994 -- From Different Shores: Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity in America. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10-ISBN 0-195-08368-7; 13-ISBN 978-0-195-08368-2; OCLC 28332474
• 1994 -- Ethnic Islands: The Emergence of Urban Chinese America. New York: Chelsea House. 10-ISBN 0-791-02180-7; 13-ISBN 978-0-791-02180-4; OCLC 28965757
• 1995 -- Lives of Notable Asian Americans: Business, Politics, Science with Angelo Ragaza. New York: Chelsea House. 10-ISBN 0-791-02189-0; 13-ISBN 978-0-791-02189-7; OCLC 31239410
• 1995 -- India in the West: South Asians in America. New York: Chelsea House. 10-ISBN 0-791-02186-6; 13-ISBN 978-0-791-02186-6; OCLC 30360857
• 1995 -- Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Atomic Bomb. Boston: Little Brown and Company. 10-ISBN 0-316-83124-7; 13-ISBN 978-0-316-83124-6; OCLC 35272716
• 2001 -- Double Victory: A Multicultural History of America in World War II. Boston: Back Bay. 10-ISBN 0-316-83156-5; 13-ISBN 978-0-316-83156-7; OCLC 47828820
• 2002 -- Debating Diversity: Clashing Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity in America. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10-ISBN 0-195-14651-4; 13-ISBN 978-0-195-14651-6; OCLC 48013647