Biography

Texas A&M University Kingsville - History

I was born in the “Land of Lincoln” (he remains my only real political hero) and grew up in southern Wisconsin. After a series of youthful misadventures that I’m saving for my as-yet-unwritten autobiography, I completed my M. A. (1992) and Ph.D. (1996) in U.S. History at Texas Christian University. My areas of specialization included the American West—I can actually trace my academic lineage directly to the original “frontier” historian, Frederick Jackson Turner—and U. S. Constitutional History. At TAMUK I teach courses in both of those subject areas, in addition to Historical Methods (every spring semester) and “topics” classes in Colonial, Revolutionary, and Early U.S. Republic, as well as American Military history and Texas history. I have offered or will be offering Senior Seminars on Biography as History—including one focused entirely on Lincoln—the Bill of Rights, and violence in American History. My publications include a biography of the infamous frontier “Hanging Judge,” Isaac Parker and a sketch of the famed Buffalo Soldiers’ service on the Texas-Oklahoma border; my current research focuses on the 1930 Sherman, Texas, race riot. As a committed (or perhaps one who should be committed—to an asylum) audiophile, I not only insist that I can hear the difference between tube and transistor amplifiers, but also that such a difference actually matters to my enjoyment of recorded music. Aside from spending too much money on music of all kinds and the equipment to play it back, I enjoy spending as much time as possible with my wife and daughter, hiking, camping, traveling, or simply sharing each other’s company.