Kenneth W. Howell was born in Athens, Texas, and raised in the small East Texas town of Malakoff, Texas. He received his Ph. D. in History from Texas A&M University in 2005; M. A. in History from Texas A&M University-Commerce in 1996; and B. S. in History from the University of Texas at Tyler in 1992. Dr. Howell resides in College Station, Texas. He has served as a full-time Professor of History at Blinn College since the fall of 2014. Howell specializes in nineteenth-century U.S. history, but the majority of his research and publications are related to the Antebellum, Civil War, and Reconstruction eras.