- Matthew Yglesias
-
Matthew Yglesias 
Born May 18, 1981 Education magna cum laude Harvard University (2003) Occupation Blogger, journalist Religious belief(s) Atheist[1] Notable credit(s) blogger; staff writer at Center for American Progress; former writer for The Atlantic Monthly magazine and the American Prospect; frequent guest on BloggingHeads.tv Matthew Yglesias (pronounced /ɨˈɡleɪsiəs/; born May 18, 1981) is an American political blogger and a prominent voice in the American liberal blogosphere.
Contents
Life
Matthew Yglesias's father Rafael Yglesias is a screenwriter and novelist and the son of novelists Jose Yglesias, of Cuban and Spanish descent, and Helen Bassine Yglesias, daughter of Polish-Jewish immigrants.
Yglesias went to high school at The Dalton School in New York City and later attended Harvard University where he studied philosophy. He graduated magna cum laude in 2003. He was editor-in-chief of The Harvard Independent, a weekly newsmagazine, and also wrote for several other campus publications.
Yglesias started blogging in early 2002, while still in college, focusing mainly on American politics and public policy issues, often approached from an abstract, philosophical perspective. He was one of the supporters of the Iraq war, although he's changed his mind since then. Yglesias joined the American Prospect as a writing fellow upon his graduation in 2003, subsequently becoming a staff writer. His posts appeared regularly on the magazine's collaborative weblog TAPPED.[2] His personal blog has been hosted, at various times, on blogger, Typepad, Josh Marshall's TPMCafe, and at matthewyglesias.com. From June 2007 until August 2008, he was a staff writer at The Atlantic Monthly, and his blog was hosted on the magazine's website, The Atlantic. In July 2008, he announced that he would leave The Atlantic Monthly for his current home at the Center for American Progress, because he missed "the sense of collegiality that comes from working with like-minded colleagues on a shared enterprise" and thought he could "help advance their mission".[3]
He has also written for mainstream publications such as the New York Times Magazine, and has made occasional appearances on radio and television as a political commentator. He is a regular contributor to BloggingHeads.tv. Yglesias is often referred to in the blogosphere as Big Media Matt, a semi-affectionate nickname coined by Duncan Black after his recruitment by the American Prospect.[4]
Andrew Sullivan takes nominations on his blog for the Yglesias Award, a tongue-in-cheek honor "for writers, politicians, columnists or pundits who actually criticize their own side, make enemies among political allies, and generally risk something for the sake of saying what they believe."[5] Yglesias is also somewhat infamous for the often bad spelling of his blog posts, a weakness to which he frankly admits.[6]
Besides analytic philosophy, Yglesias has a passion for basketball and occasionally posts about the NBA, particularly the Washington Wizards.
Awards
- 2007 The Hillman Prize, for "Tapped", The American Prospect
Works
- "Long Philosophical Rant about Spider-Man 2", Ultimate blogs: masterworks from the wild Web, Editor Sarah Boxer, Random House, Inc., 2008, ISBN 9780307278067
- "The Media", The 12-Step Bush Recovery Program, Gene Stone, Carl Pritzkat, Tony Travostino, Random House, Inc., 2008, ISBN 9780812980363
- Heads in the Sand: How the Republicans Screw Up Foreign Policy and Foreign Policy Screws Up the Democrats, Wiley, April 2008, ISBN 9780470086223.[7]
External links
- Yglesias' old The Atlantic blog
- Yglesias' new Center for American Progress blog
- TAPPED
- Video discussions/debates in which Yglesias has taken part on Bloggingheads.tv
References
- ^ "Ayaan Hirsi Ali On Egypt". http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2011/02/ayaan-hirsi-ali-on-egypt/. "Maybe in 50 or 100 years, folks like Ali and I who don’t believe in God will persuade Egyptians that we’re right."
- ^ Special Plans: The Blogs on Douglas Feith & the Faulty Intelligence That Led to War, Editor Allison Hantschel, Franklin, Beedle & Associates, Inc., 2005, ISBN 9781590280492
- ^ Matthew Yglesias: Big Thinktank Matt
- ^ Talk Left: Big Media Matt on the Move
- ^ Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish Awards
- ^ Matthew Yglesias: Why I Can't Spell
- ^ Wiley product page for Heads in the Sand
Categories:- 1981 births
- Living people
- American atheists
- American writers of Cuban descent
- American people of Polish-Jewish descent
- American people of Galician descent
- American bloggers
- American political writers
- Dalton School alumni
- Harvard University alumni
- Center for American Progress
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