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, was published in November 2025 by Basic Books. Wakara’s America was a finalist for best biography for the Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America and was a finalist for the Plutarch Award, the most prestigious award in biography in the English Language.

My next book, More, America: Twenty-Five (More) Founders of the United States, will be published by HarperCollins, in 2028.

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