Dr. Sam Haynes

Sam W. Haynes was appointed Center Director in May, 2009, and has served as a Center Fellow since coming to UT-Arlington in 1993. Specializing in 19th century Texas and the American Southwest, Haynes is the author of two books. His first, Soldiers of Misfortune: The Somervell and Mier Expeditions (University of Texas Press: 1990), examined the border conflicts between the Texas Republic and Mexico in the 1840s. He broadened his research interests to include Manifest Destiny and the U.S. war with Mexico in his second book, James K. Polk and the Expansionist Impulse (Longman: 1996), now in its third edition. In addition, he has co-edited an anthology, Major Problems in Texas History (Houghton Mifflin: 2001), and a collection of essays, Manifest Destiny and Empire: Essays in American Antebellum Expansionism (Texas A&M University Press: 1997).

Haynes has recently finished a third book, entitled "Unfinished Revolution: The American Republic in a British World, 1815-1850," which will be published next year by the University of Virginia Press. He is currently doing preliminary research for his next project, a major study of the Texas Republic.

Haynes is an active member of several historical organizations, including the Texas State Historical Association. In 1993 he was awarded the Dobie-Paisano prize by the Texas Institute of Letters, and was inducted as a TIL Fellow in 1999. He has also served as an historical consultant for the History Channel and PBS. In 2008 he served as the lead consultant for the History Channel's two-hour documentary, "The Mexican War."