Richard Munson

Richard (Dick) Munson is an American author and clean energy advocate. His latest book, "Ingenious: A Biography of Benjamin Franklin, Scientist," was released by W.W. Norton & Company in November 2024. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called it an "electrifying portrait. ... Munson proves there's reason yet to revisit the much-studied statesman."

With an interest in innovators, Munson also wrote "Tech to Table: 25 Innovators Reimagining Food" (Island Press, 2021) and "Tesla: Inventor of the Modern" (Norton, 2018) He is the author of five other books with topics that range from U.S. government energy policy to profiles of tycoon George Fabyan and oceanographer Jacques Cousteau. He also helped launch a clean-energy start-up and lobbied for clean-energy initiatives on Capitol Hill and in Illinois and Ohio.

Early life and education

Born and raised in Southern California, Munson earned a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an M.A. from the University of Michigan. He lived in Michigan and Washington, D.C., before moving to Chicago, where he is based.

Munson was inspired to battle pollution while in college, when in early 1969 an oil spill in Santa Barbara, California, blackened beaches, killing thousands of sea birds and other marine life.

Career Munson has been the Midwest Director of Clean Energy for the Environmental Defense Fund, a global organization whose mission “is to preserve the natural systems on which all life depends.” EDF works in conjunction with business, government and communities to solve environmental problems affecting climate, ecosystems, oceans and health. Previously, Munson was senior vice president of Recycled Energy Development (RED), an Illinois-based industrial waste-to-energy company.

He was also executive director of the Northeast-Midwest Institute and coordinated with the Northeast-Midwest House and Senate Coalitions, bipartisan caucuses that conduct policy research and draft legislation on issues pertaining to agriculture, economic development, energy, the environment, and manufacturing. Other clean energy and environmental groups he has held leadership positions with include the Center for Renewable Resources, Solar Lobby, Sun Day, and the Environmental Action Foundation.

Munson sat on the boards of Hinsdale Public Library, Elevate Energy, Center for Neighborhood Technology, Illinois Environment Council and Greenleaf Advisors.

Munson is frequently cited in media and serves on panels as an authority on energy policy and electricity markets. He has received public service awards from the Great Lakes Commission, American Small Manufacturers Coalition and the U.S. Clean Heat and Power Association.

Published works Munson's "Tech to Table: 25 Innovators Reimagining Food (Island Press, September 2021), has been called "a book we've been waiting for, documenting the entrepreneurial creativity now sweeping throughout food and farming space."

His previous book, Tesla: Inventor of the Modern (W.W. Norton, May 2018), follows Nikola Tesla from his childhood in Southern Europe to the United States, working for titans Edison and Westinghouse and exploring the frontier of electrical transmission, to dying alone in a New York hotel. Munson draws on Tesla's letters, technical notebooks, and other primary sources to piece together the personal life and habits of the enigmatic inventor. A Kirkus starred review calls Tesla: Inventor of the Modern “A lucid, expertly researched biography,” and affirms that readers “will absolutely enjoy his sympathetic, insightful portrait.” Booklist says it is a “celebratory, comprehensive profile . . . A well-written, insightful addition to the legacy of this still-underappreciated visionary genius.”

Munson's first book, The Power Makers, was hailed as “a sober and thoughtful analysis of the troubled electricity business” by Washington Monthly, and ranked by them as one of the best political books of the year.