About David Benac

David Benac is an environmental and public historian of the post-WWII United States. His research investigates how people act on their perceptions of nature, the science of ecology, and the philosophy of ecocentrism. His first monograph, Conflict in the Ozarks: Hill Folk, Industrialists, and Government in the Courtois Hills (Truman State University Press, 2010), investigates how the contested value of land and forests shaped development in Missouri’s Ozarks. His second monograph, Rainforest Radicals: A History of Rainforest Action Network and Transnational Organizing (University of Nebraska Press, 2026), explores the radical environmental movement of the late twentieth century and the formation of international coalitions of grassroots groups devoted to supporting indigenous rights and environmental protections. He is currently working on a study of outdoor recreation in the Northwoods and a history of the native plant movement as a form of direct action motivated by popular ecology.