Latin American history scholar Dr. Timothy J. Henderson of Auburn University Montgomery will discuss his new book, "A Glorious Defeat: Mexico and Its War with the United States," on Thursday, Feb. 21, at California State University, Fresno.

The free lecture and book signing will be from 2 to 4 p.m. in the University Student Union, rooms 312-314. It is sponsored by the Chicano and Latin American Studies Department, the Central Valley Latin American Project and the College of Social Sciences.

The event is part of an observance of the 160th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on Feb. 2, 1848, ending the war and marking the cession of Mexican territory that is part of the modern-day U.S. states of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming, as well as the whole of California, Nevada and Utah.

Also part of the Fresno State observance is an exhibit that opened last week on campus, "History of California and the Mexican American War," in the Henry Madden Library.

Henderson is a founding member and past president of the Latin American and Caribbean Section of the Southern Historical Association, and is also a member of the Conference on Latin American History of the American Historical Association and the Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies.

In addition to Auburn, where in 2005 he was named Distinguished Research Professor, he has taught at Yale University.

He has authored "The Worm in the Wheat: Rosalie Evans and Agrarian Struggle in the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley of Mexico, 1906-1927," published by Duke University Press in 1998; and "The Mexico Reader: History, Culture, Politics," published by Duke University Press in 2002; as well as many articles and book reviews. He is currently completing a book on the Mexican War of Independence.

Parking is available in Lot A on Woodrow Avenue (Shaw Avenue access). For more information contact Dr. Maria Lopes at 559.278.8808 or e-mail mlopes@csufresno.edu.