Author of 14 books, including Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire in 2000, Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy and the End of the Republic, and Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic. He taught for 30 years at the Berkeley and San Diego campuses of the University of California, where he held endowed chairs in Asian politics. He was president of the Japan Policy Research Institute and at Berkeley he chaired the Center for Chinese Studies.