ABOUT

I am an associate professor of religious studies in the Department of Classics & Religious Studies of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the state’s flagship university. I also teach in the History, Ethnic Studies, and Global Studies programs.

I serve on the steering committee for our graduate program in nineteenth-century studies. My research and teaching center on religion and race, indigeneity, slavery, settler colonialism, and the environment in the West. My second book, Wakara’s America: The Life and Legacy of a Native Founder of the American West, will be published this November by Basic Books. Wakara’s America has received advance praise from leading figures in American history, including Ned Blackhawk and Kathleen DuVal.

Buy the book here [Bookshop | Amazon]

I graduated magna cum laude from Carleton College. I received masters and doctoral degrees in the study of religion from Harvard University. I have held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Tanner Humanities Center of the University of Utah, and the Center for Humanistic Inquiry of Amherst College.

As a scholar invested in connecting the academy and the wider public, my writing has appeared in the Atlantic, The New Republic, Slate, among other national publications. I am also co-founder and the former associated editor of Religion and Politics (religionandpolitics.org).

I can be reached at max DOT mueller AT unl DOT edu.

Follow me on Bluesky @maxperrymueller