Thomas N Bethell was an editor at The Washington Monthly from 1979 to 1980. A former Research Director for the United Mine Workers, he has written extensively about the mining industry and labor relations. He has also worked for The Century Foundation. He has co-authored two books:Straight Talk about Social Security: An Analysis of the Issues in the Current Debate (The Century Foundation, 1998) and Design Theory, Vol. 2 (Cambridge University Press, 2000).