Prof. Sam Haynes Publishes a New History of Texas

Thursday, Apr 21, 2022 • MEDIA CONTACT : Contact

Professor Sam W. Haynes is making the papers with his newest book Unsettled Land: From Revolution to Republic, the Struggle for Texas, which will be published on May 3, 2022. In his latest volume, Professor Haynes argues for a new narrative that challenges the well-known origin story of the state of Texas. Instead of larger-than-life figures like Sam Houston, William Barrett Travis, and Davy Crockett freeing Texas from Mexican repression, the ordinary people of Texas take center stage.

In an interview with the Austin American Statesman, Dr. Haynes discusses in detail his favorite historical figures (both well-known and new to readers) and the sheer chaos that coalesced into modern Texas. “I’ve known for a long time that the traditional narrative was badly in need of an overhaul…So when I started this project, I knew that I didn’t want to just revise the standard narrative. I wanted to dispense with it entirely, as if telling the story of the birth of early modern Texas for the first time.”

Professor Haynes’ full interview with the Statesman can be found here, and Unsettled Land can be found in bookstores around the country on May 3, 2022.

Link for Statesman article: https://www.statesman.com/story/news/history/2022/04/18/q-a-interview-sam-w-haynes-author-new-book-unsettled-land-texas-tx-history-revolution-19th-century/7283305001/