Glen Hines is an American author, essayist, retired Marine Corps officer, and former college football and baseball player whose work explores the intersection of sports, ethics, identity, military service, and institutional power. His acclaimed nonfiction book Welcome to the Machine offers a candid insider’s critique of the culture of American football and its broader social implications.

Hines’ writing has earned national recognition. His work has received positive reviews from renowned publications like Kirkus Reviews, which praised his insider perspective and compelling examination of football’s moral complexities. He has also been published in Sports Illustrated and quoted by a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist in The Washington Post’s 2025 investigative report into the NFLs failings under the terms of the landmark head trauma settlement it made with former players, further establishing his voice as a credible and relevant contributor to contemporary conversations about sports and society.

In addition to his books, Hines’ essays and commentary have appeared in major media outlets, and he is a member of several national and regional writers' associations. Drawing on his personal experiences as a military officer, lawyer, judge, athlete and a writer, he brings a thoughtful, unflinching perspective to questions of integrity, exploitation, and personal transformation.

The author of seven books - Document, Cloudbreak, Crossroads, Cathedrals in the Twilight, Of Time and Rivers, and the creator, producer, and author of the highly-acclaimed podcast Welcome to the Machine and the book on which it is based, he was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and graduated from George Washington University School of Law in Washington, DC. His writing on military service, sports, current events, the outdoors, and the bright and dark sides of American culture has been published in various outlets, such as Sports Illustrated, SI-The Cauldron, Task and Purpose, the Human Development Project and elsewhere. The Welcome to the Machine podcast was featured on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Podcasts, and most other popular podcast platforms.

The son of a professional athlete and a career high school English teacher, he began his writing career as a lawyer, working for a few years in a corporate legal department and law firm. Needing a greater challenge and seeking a higher calling, in 1997, he entered the United States Marine Corps as an officer and judge advocate. For over 27 years, he served in various roles as a prosecutor, appellate government counsel, terrorism prosecutor in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and a military trial and appellate judge five different times. Now retired, he is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, having served overseas in Kuwait, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Naval Station Bahrain, and elsewhere. From 2000-2002 and 2012-2014, he also served two stints as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Hines has taught law at the Naval Justice School, the Army Judge Advocate General’s School, the University of Arkansas School of Law, and Texas A&M University Law School.

A former NCAA Division 1 letterman in football and baseball at two different schools, he is the only University of Arkansas two-sport athlete to have played on conference championship football and baseball teams (1989). His military service and athletic career have provided the ideas and basis for countless stories in his books and elsewhere. He is also a member of the Family Advisory Board at the Boston University CTE Center's Concussion Legacy Foundation and a member of the Surfrider Foundation. He was inducted into the Authors Guild in 2022 and is currently a member of the Florida Writers Association and the Gulf Coast Writers Association.

Hines continues to write and speak about military service, sports, culture, and the human cost of institutional systems.