Gene A. Smith

Smith was born on September 7, 1963, in Fort Payne, Alabama, and grew up in Albertville. Playing sports and serving in the Civil Air Patrol as a teen, he graduated from Albertville High School in 1981. Growing up a University of Alabama fan, he instead chose to attend Auburn University for academic reasons—to become a veterinarian. Ultimately, a course in chemistry put him on the path to becoming a historian. Serving in Theta Xi fraternity, he eventually became Vice-President and that service, assisted him to become the Auburn University Fraternity Advisor during the 1987–1988 academic years. He earned a bachelor's degree at Auburn University in 1984, followed by a master's degree in 1987 and a PhD in 1991.{{cite web|title=Gene Allen Smith|url=http://personal.tcu.edu/gsmith/|website=History Department|publisher=Texas Christian University|access-date=April 1, 2018}}

Smith began his career during the fall of 1991 in academia at (Eastern Montana College), now Montana State University Billings. He is a professor of American History at Texas Christian University, where he is also the director of the Center for Texas Studies.

Smith is the author of five books and editor of four more books. His first book, {{'}}For the Purposes of Defense': The Politics of the Jeffersonian Gunboat Program, based on his PhD dissertation, looked at Thomas Jefferson's naval strategy during the early nineteenth century and War of 1812.{{cite journal |last1=McDonough |first1=Daniel |title=Reviewed Work: "For the Purposes of Defense": The Politics of the Jeffersonian Gunboat Program by Gene A. Smith |journal=The Journal of Southern History |date=August 1996 |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=573–574 |doi=10.2307/2211515 |jstor=2211515 }} He authored two more books about Manifest Destiny, including Filibusters and Expansionists with Frank Lawrence Owsley, Jr. of Auburn University, which was praised as "a quality piece of historical writing" and "a valuable contribution to the historiography of expansion and the Gulf South" in The Journal of Southern History.{{cite journal |last1=Ferrari |first1=Mary |title=Reviewed Work: Filibusters and Expansionists: Jeffersonian Manifest Destiny, 1800-1821 by Frank Lawrence Owsley Jr., Gene A. Smith |journal=The Journal of Southern History |date=May 1999 |volume=65 |issue=2 |pages=396–397 |doi=10.2307/2587384 |jstor=2587384 }} Another book is a biography of Thomas ap Catesby Jones, who served in the War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War. Smith has also authored a book about the role of slaves in the War of 1812, which was lauded as "essential and informative reading" in the Journal of the Early Republic. He has also published as the lead author a military history textbook, entitled In Harm's Way: The American Military Experience (Oxford University Press, 2019), which combines military, naval and air power history and is used at a number of institutions across the United States.{{cite journal |last1=Cusick |first1=James G. |title=Reviewed Work: The Slaves' Gamble: Choosing Sides in the War of 1812 by Gene Allen Smith |journal=Journal of the Early Republic |date=Winter 2013 |volume=33 |issue=4 |pages=789–791 |jstor=24486802 |doi=10.1353/jer.2013.0086 |s2cid=145772424 }}

• {{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Gene A. |title='For the Purposes of Defense': The Politics of the Jeffersonian Gunboat Program |date=1995 |publisher=University of Delaware Press |location=Newark, Delaware |isbn=9780838752906|oclc=491001519}}
• {{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Gene A. |title=Iron and Heavy Guns: Duel Between the Monitor and Merrimac |date=1996 |publisher=McWhiney Foundation Press |location=Abilene, Texas |isbn=9781886661158|oclc=38887568}}
• {{cite book |last1=Owsley |first1=Frank Lawrence Jr. |last2=Smith |first2=Gene A. |title=Filibusters and Expansionists: Jeffersonian Manifest Destiny, 1800–1821 |date=1997 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |location=Tuscaloosa, Alabama |isbn=9780817351175|oclc=144535228}}
• {{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Gene A. |title=Thomas Ap Catesby Jones: Commodore of Manifest Destiny |date=2000 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, Maryland|oclc=606269386}}
• {{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Gene A. |title=The Slaves' Gamble: Choosing Sides in the War of 1812 |date=2013 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Basingstoke |isbn=9780230342088|oclc=840425895}}

• {{cite book |last1=Lacarrière-Latour |first1=Arsène |last2=Smith |first2=Gene A. |title=Historical Memoir of the War in West Florida and Louisiana in 1814-15: With an Atlas |date=1999 |publisher=University of Florida Press |location=Gainesville, Florida |isbn=9780813016757 |oclc=262319413}}
• {{cite book |editor-last1=Smith |editor-first1=Gene A. |title=A British Eyewitness at the Battle of New Orleans: The Memoir of Royal Navy Admiral Robert Aitchison, 1808-1827 |date=2004 |publisher=Historic New Orleans Collection |location=New Orleans, Louisiana |isbn=9780917860508|oclc=835371001}}
• {{cite book |editor-last1=Hilton |editor-first1=Sylvia L. |editor-last2=Smith |editor-first2=Gene A. |title=Nexus of Empire: Negotiating Loyalty and Identity in the Revolutionary Borderlands, 1760s-1820s |date=2011 |publisher=University Press of Florida |location=Gainesville, Florida |isbn=9780813037271|oclc=696718683}}
• {{cite book |editor-last1=Gutiérrez |editor-first1=Pedro Luengo Gutiérrez |editor-last2=Smith |editor-first2=Gene Allen |title=From Colonies to Countries in the North Caribbean: Military Engineers in the Development of Cities and Territories |date=2016 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |location=Newcastle |isbn=9781443885362|oclc=957774800}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.c-span.org/person/?geneasmith Gene A. Smith] on C-SPAN

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Category:Living people

Category:People from Fort Payne, Alabama

Category:Auburn University alumni

Category:Montana State University Billings faculty

Category:Texas Christian University faculty

Category:20th-century American historians

Category:American male non-fiction writers

Category:21st-century American historians

Category:21st-century American male writers

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:20th-century American male writers

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