Mosettig, Michael David 1942-

views updated

MOSETTIG, Michael David 1942-

PERSONAL: Born July, 21, 1942, in Washington, DC; son of Erich (a chemist) and Ann (a writer; maiden name, Nelson) Mosettig; married Ruth L. Leon, September 23, 1970. Education: Attended Indiana University, 1960-61; George Washington University, B.A. (political science), 1964; Georgetown University, M.A. (European history), 1968.

ADDRESSES: Home—155 West 68th St., New York, NY 10023. Offıce—356 West 58th St., New York, NY 10019. Agent—Andrew Wylie, 250 West 57th St. New York, NY 10019.

CAREER: Journalist. Carpenter News Bureau, Washington, DC, reporter, 1961-65; Newhouse National News Service, 1965-69; United Press International, London, England, reporter, 1969-70; NBC News, Washington, DC, and New York, NY, producer, 1971-79; MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour, New York, NY, producer, 1983-85, senior producer, 1985—. Columbia University, New York, NY, associate professor, 1972-83, adjunct professor, 1983—. Military service: U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, 1966-67; U.S. Naval Reserve, 1968-78.

MEMBER: International Institute for Strategic Studies, Mid-Atlantic Club, Overseas Writers, American Historical Association.

WRITINGS:

(With Ronald E. Müller) Revitalizing America: Politics for Prosperity, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1980.

Contributor to journals and magazines, including Washington Star, Economist, Boston Globe, New Republic, Europe, and Los Angeles Times.

SIDELIGHTS: Michael David Mosettig has had a very successful career in the field of political journalism. He began as a reporter and eventually made his way up the ranks to become a senior producer of the Public Television broadcast, MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour. About twenty years into his profession he and coauthor Robert E. Müller wrote Revitalizing America: Politics for Prosperity.

Mosettig's first work focuses on arguing why the American government needs to act more forcefully in economic matters, especially concerning Third World nations. Mosettig and Müller contend that in order for the United States to remain one of the strongest economies it must fund growth in underdeveloped nations and recognize the economic prosperity these countries promise; at the time of the writing there were thirty-four of the world's five hundred largest multinational companies headquartered in a Third World country. David Vogel, writing in the New York Review of Books, found that the authors "convincingly demonstrate" their point, while James Traub, writing in the New York Times Book Review, observed that Mosettig and Müller "refuse to foretell the end of the world and in fact [end] with a flourish of plausible alternatives to doom." Washington Post Book World contributor Richard E. Feinberg praised Revitalizing America as "coherent and refreshing" and noted that it "is a timely compilation of ideas currently in the air but not yet in the mainstream."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

New York Review of Books, June 11, 1981, David Vogel, "How to Put Humpty Together Again," pp. 29-32.

New York Times Book Review, January 4, 1981, James Traub, review of Revitalizing America: Politics for Prosperity, p. 10.

Washington Post Book World, January 4, 1981, Richard E. Feinberg, "Tuning up the Economic Engine," p. 3.*