David T. Beito

Beito (born 1956) is an American historian and professor emeritus of history at the University of Alabama.

Beito was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He received a B.A. in history from the University of Minnesota in 1980 and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1986. Since 1994, he has taught at the University of Alabama, where he is a professor in history. He married Linda Royster Beito on June 11, 1997, and they live in Northport, Alabama.

Beito's research covers a wide range of topics in American history including race, tax revolts, the private provision of infrastructure, mutual aid, and the political philosophies of Zora Neale Hurston, Rose Wilder Lane, and Isabel Paterson.

Beito has published in the Wall Street Journal,Los Angeles Times,Washington Examiner, 'Washington Examiner,The Hill, as well as the Journal of Southern History, Journal of Urban History among other scholarly journals. He has received fellowships from the Earhart Foundation, the John M. Olin Foundation, and the Institute for Humane Studies.

In February 2007, Beito was appointed to chair the Alabama State Advisory Committee of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. In April, 2008, the Committee had an open meeting at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham which focused on eminent domain as a possible civi rights issue. It followed this up with another open meeting in April 2009 in Montgomery. The testimony resulted in a national briefing by Beito for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. generated stories by ABC News, Fox News, and other outlets.

Beito’s biography of Dr. T.R.M. Howard received widespread praise. Mark Bauerlein in a review for the Wall Street Journal called it “compelling,” civil rights leader Julian Bond characterized it as “wonderfully told,” former NAACP head Benjamin L. Hooks lauded it as a "must read," and Shelby Steele found it to be "richly detailed.”

T.R.M. Howard: Doctor, Entrepreneur, Civil Rights Pioneer won the best book award in the category for biography by the American Book Fest and the Independent Book Publishers Association. His most recent book, The New Deal's War on the Bill of Rights: The Untold Story of FDR's Concentration Camps, Censorship and Mass Surveillance has received praise from a broad spectrum of scholars including Ellen Schrecker, Randy Barnett, and Burton W. Folsom Jr.

Books

• Beito, David T. (2023). The New Deal's War on the Bill of Rights: The Untold Story of FDR's Concentration Camps, Censorship, and Mass Surveillance (First ed.). Oakland: Independent Institute. pp. 4–7. ISBN 978-1598133561.
• T.R.M. Howard: Doctor, Entrepreneur, Civil Rights Pioneer (Oakland: Independent Institute), 2018. ISBN 978-1598133127.
• Taxpayers in Revolt: Tax Resistance during the Great Depression, University of North Carolina Press (Chapel Hill), 1989.
• From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State: Fraternal Societies and Social Services, University of North Carolina Press (Cambridge), 1992.
• Black Maverick: T. R. M. Howard's Fight for Civil Rights and Economic Power (University of Illinois Press), 2009, ISBN 978-0252034206

Edited books

• The Voluntary City: Choice, Community, and Civil Society, University of Michigan Press for The Independent Institute (Ann Arbor), 2002.

• Mark Bauerlin, "Demanding Rights, Courting Controversy: A Flamboyant Civil-Rights Leader – Doctor, Orator, Activist-Finally Gets His Due", The Wall Street Journal, August 6, 2009.
• "Six Questions for David Beito, Author of Black Maverick", by Scott Horton, Harper's Magazine, June 11, 2009.

• Appearances on C-SPAN