Matt Yglesias
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Matt Yglesias is a popular American blogger and one of the prominent voices on the centre-left wing of the blogosphere.
Life and career
Matthew Yglesias 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. He was encouraged in his early efforts by fellow-bloggers such as Matt Welch and Jeff Jarvis. His blog, initially on Blogspot and later on Typepad, was qualitatively different from other progressive blogs, and indeed different from most political blogs: his academic training in philosophy is often reflected in the density and abstruseness of his writing. While solidly liberal, Yglesias was one of the handful of left-wing bloggers who supported the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The quality of his blog writing and analysis caught the attention of the American Prospect magazine, and he joined the journal as a staff writer upon his graduation in 2003. His posts appear regularly on the magazine's collaborative weblog TAPPED. 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 politicial commentator.
Yglesias remains a qualified supporter of the war on terror and democracy promotion in the Middle East. He is one of the few bloggers whose work is cited regularly (and respectfully) on both sides of the blogosphere, receiving frequent mentions from left-wingers such as Atrios and Kevin Drum but also from right-wingers like Instapundit and Andrew Sullivan. He is often referred to in the blogosphere as Big Media Matt, a semi-affectionate nickname coined by Atrios after his recruitment by the American Prospect.
As of May 2005, Yglesias has found a new home at Josh Marshall's group blog, TPM Cafe, having abandoned his earlier Typepad address. Besides analytic philosophy, Yglesias has a passion for basketball and occasionally posts about the NBA.