DAVID BENNETT was educated at Christ's Hospital School and Sidney Sussex College Cambridge, where he took history and philosophy. He holds a Ph.D in philosophy from McGill University. He spent much of his working life in the labor movement, ending his career in 2006 as National Director of Health, Safety and Environment at the Canadian Labour Congress. He is widely published in the areas of workplace health and environmental protection and has published several articles, op-ed pieces and reviews on the Second World War .

David Bennett's book, "Northern Exposures, A Canadian Perspective on Occupational Health and Environment" will be published in 2009 by Baywood. A Magnificent Disaster is his first full-length work.

He lives in Ottawa with the novelist and anthropologist Jo Anne Williams Bennett; they have three grown children, Russell, Christen and Jonathan.