John Mueller holds the Woody Hayes Chair of National Security Studies, Mershon Center, and is professor of Political Science, at Ohio State University where he teaches courses in international relations.
He is currently working on terrorism and particularly on the reactions (or over-reactions) it often inspires. His recent book, Atomic Obsession: Nuclear Alarmism from Hiroshima to Al Qaeda (Oxford University Press, 2010), suggests that atomic terrorism is highly unlikely and that efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation frequently have damaging results. Information about this book. He has also written Overblown: How Politicians and the Terrorism Industry Inflate National Security Threats, and Why We Believe Them (Free Press, 2006). The New York Times called the book "important" and "accurate, timely, and necessary." Information about this book. His book, Terrorism, Security, and Money: Balancing the Risks, Benefits, and Costs of Homeland Security, written in collaboration with engineer and risk analyst Mark Stewart, applies cost-benefit analysis to issues of homeland security and was published in early September 2011 by Oxford University Press. Information about this book. Another book, War and Ideas: Selected Essays was published in May 2011 by Routledge. Information about this book. He is also the editor of a set of case studies, Terrorism Since 9/11: The American Cases, published as a webbook in 2011 by the Mershon Center. Information about this book.
Mueller is the author of a multiple-prize-winning book analyzing public opinion during the Korean and Vietnam Wars, War, Presidents and Public Opinion (Wiley, 1973) ("a classic" according to the American Political Science Review) and of Retreat from Doomsday: The Obsolescence of Major War (Basic Books, 1989) which deals with changing attitudes toward war. In a front page review of this latter book in the Sunday book section of the Washington Post, McGeorge Bundy commented, "Mueller makes you think, and his method of argument combines fresh insights with trenchant prose in a way that makes thoughtful reading agreeable." Mueller has also published Policy and Opinion in the Gulf War (University of Chicago Press, 1994) and Quiet Cataclysm: Reflections on the Recent Transformation of World Politics (HarperCollins, 1995). His Capitalism, Democracy, and Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery was published in 1999 by Princeton University Press. In his review in The Weekly Standard, David J. Silver writes, "Mueller's provocative book deserves a wide audience. . . . Mueller writes sharp, brisk, and witty prose that is unfailingly lucid." Mueller's book about international and civil wars, The Remnants of War, was published by Cornell University Press in 2004. Writing in The New Republic, Gregg Easterbrook called it "brilliantly original and urgent." It was awarded the Lepgold Prize from Georgetown University for the best book on international relations in 2004. Retreat from Doomsday, Quiet Cataclysm, and War, Presidents and Public Opinion have recently been reprinted.
Mueller has published scores of articles in such
journals
as International Security, American Political Science Review,
American Interest, Security
Studies, Orbis, American Journal of Political Science, National
Interest,
Foreign Affairs, Lapham's Quarterly, British Journal of Political
Science, Policy Studies Journal, International Interactions, Political
Science Quarterly, International Studies Perspectives, Terrorism and
Political Violence, Issues in Science and Technology, Chronicle of
Higher Education, Journal of Peace
Research, International Studies
Quarterly,
Journal of Conflict Resolution, Review
of
International
Studies, Bulletin
of
the Atomic Scientists, and
Foreign Policy, as well
as many editorial page columns and articles in the
Wall Street Journal,
Los Angeles Times, New Republic, ABA Human Rights Magazine, Nation,
American Conservative,
Regulation, Reason, Washington
Post, New York Newsday, Playboy,
and
New
York Times. He has been a visiting fellow at the Brookings
Institution
and the Cato Institute in Washington, DC, the Hoover Institution at
Stanford University, and
the
Norwegian Nobel Institute in Olso.
He has appeared on television on "The O'Reilly Factor," "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" view here, "Hannity and Colmes," "Nightly Business Report" on PBS, "The National" on CBC, and "20/20" with John Stossel, and on radio on "The Michael Medved Show" and on NPR's "On Point" and "All Things Considered."
In another field, he is the author of Astaire Dancing (Knopf, 1985). Before publication this book won the de la Torre Bueno prize of Dance Perspectives Foundation as the "most distinguished manuscript on dance;" since publication, it has been called "one of the most satisfying, rich and witty film books ever written" by Kirkus Reviews, and "an extraordinary study of film art" by the New York Times. This book has recently be digitially remastered and republished. Information about the reprint. Mueller also provides the commentary track on the DVD version of the 1936 Astaire-Rogers film, Swing Time. He is the director of Ohio State's Dance Film Archive, a set of DVDs, videotapes, and 16mm films that are available for purchase and rental.
Also to his credit are scripts for two musicals. One of these, A Foggy Day, combines a P.G. Wodehouse play with songs by George and Ira Gershwin and, co-written by Norm Foster, was produced for the 1998 and 1999 seasons at the Shaw Festival, in Ontario, Canada for over 250 performances (all sold out) over the two seasons. Another, One For My Baby, derives from a Fred Astaire film and makes use of songs with lyrics by Johnny Mercer.
Before coming to Ohio State in 2000, Mueller was on
the faculty at the University of Rochester for many years. He is a
member of the American Academy of Arts
and
Sciences, has been a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow, and has received
grants
from the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the
Humanities. He has also received several teaching prizes, and in 2009
received the International Studies Association's Susan Strange Award
that "recognizes a person whose singular intellect, assertiveness, and
insight most challenge conventional wisdom and intellectual and
organizational complacency in the international studies community." In
2010, he received Ohio State University's Distinguished Scholar Award.
He was also selected for the Playboy
Honor Roll of 20 Professors Who Are Reinventing the Classroom in the
October 2010 issue of the magazine.
Profile in U.S. News & World Report
Political Science papers, articles, and books available on the web